Spain Has Managed to Grow Its Tourism Sector While Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions
WTTC data also show that before the pandemic in 2019, the sector represented 11 per cent of total greenhouse gas emissions across Spain. Meanwhile, in 2020, this figure has marked a decrease of six percentage points, reaching five per cent, AtoZSerwisPlus.com reports.
During the period from 2010 to 2019, the economic growth of the Spanish travel and tourism sector was decoupled from greenhouse gas emissions. At the same time, the total contribution of the sector to the national GDP increased by an average of 2.3 per cent per year, while greenhouse gas emissions increased by only 0.9 per cent per year during the same period.
Based on these figures, WTTC points out that the sector’s emission intensity in Spain continues to decline.
The report shows that travel and tourism produced 0.44 kg of greenhouse gases for every euro generated by the Spanish sector in 2010. According to the WTTC, in 2019 this figure fell by an average of more than 11.3 per cent per year, when the sector was at its peak, to reach 0.39 kg for each euro of GDP. Then, in the following years, this amount decreased even more, reaching 0.36 kg and 0.33 kg in 2020 and 2021, respectively.
As WTTC President and CEO Julia Simpson explains, the Travel and Tourism sector in Spain has managed to separate its economic growth from greenhouse gas emissions and continues to reduce its emission intensity.
“We need continued government support to increase production of sustainable aviation fuels, which will have a significant impact on our footprint, as well as to bring more renewable energy into our national grids, in order to minimize our absolute emissions to meet our targets and ambitions” Simpson also pointed in this regard.
Furthermore, data provided by the World Tourism Organization revealed that between 2010 and 2019, the sector’s total energy use decreased by 1.2 per cent per year.
