Research for environmentally sustainable tourism – All talk, no action?

Abstract

Global heating is an existential threat to humanity. Carbon emissions must be reduced immediately and substantially to ensure the planet can continue to support human life. Every industry sector must make a material contribution. Tourism is no exception. Currently, the tourism industry generates about 8% of all carbon emissions (Lenzen et al., 2018). These tourism-related emissions are predicted to increase – not decrease – by 3% annually into the future (Lenzen et al., 2018). On the 30th anniversary of the Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management, we reflect on research progress in this area; specifically, research that has contributed to making tourists behave in more environmentally sustainable ways, which translates either directly or indirectly to a reduction of carbon emissions. We provide a review of studies published in this area, identify key streams of work, and draw conclusions about the current state-of-the-art and urgent directions for future research. We conclude that more work focusing on how to change the behaviour of all tourism stakeholders is urgently needed.