Professor Susanne Becken's presentation to Tourism and Sustainable Development Goals conference, Massey University, Auckland, 2019

1. Waking up – tourism,
climate change and the
SDGs
Prof Susanne Becken
Griffith Institute for Tourism

2. Part I: Does tourism contribute
to the Sustainable
Development Goals?

4. Best practice – Reducing carbon

5. Best practice – Poverty alleviation

6. Best practice – Partnerships
New Zealand’s Tiaki Promise was launched by seven organisations from
Government and industry to provide a platform for promoting responsible
tourism behaviour.

7. UNWTO: “Public and
private sector are
committed to SDGs…”
Are they?

8. Streetlight effect?

9. www.tourismdashboard.org

10. Poverty Alleviation?

11. Dispersion of Tourism and Equity?

12. Carbon Emissions (aviation)

15. Part II: Climate change
An existential risk to humanity (The Club of Rome, 2018)

16. We have 12 years left before reaching 1.5˚ C warmin
Decarbonisation is urgent and must start now.
Adaptation is inevitable and needs to be embedde
in business.

21. https://www.climateinteractive.org/programs/scoreboard/
Emission pathways

22. “Given the importance of Travel &
Tourism to the world economy and
achievement of the Sustainable
Development Goals, and the
growing imperative to address
climate change in a meaningful
way, WTTC and UNFCCC are
delighted to work together
towards a carbon neutral world“.
WTTC https://www.wttc.org/-
/media/files/declarations/unfccc-climate-change.pdf

24. Part III: Change
More than a nudge

25. Growth paradigm, capitalism and structures
- Function of capitalism (return on capital
must grow): M – C – M’
- Often embedded in neoliberalism (free
markets, minimum Govt intervention)
- Concentration of capital creates
(reinforces) elites
- Social Dominance Theory suggests that
people with power will always seek more
of the desirable things they have at the
expense of their subordinates.

26. Tourism firmly
embedded in growth
(for growth’s sake?)
Brandalism campaign,
2016 COP Paris

27. UNWTO, WTTC, IATA
etc.
Members and
partners
Respond to members’ aims of economic growth by:
• Disseminating data on tourism arrivals and expenditure.
• Investing into growth-focused programs.
• Advocating for growth-oriented policies with Governments.
• Linking with global providers for development finance.
• Supporting sustainable tourism with a focus on sustainable growth.
Embedded in neoliberal paradigm and growth narrative by:
• Producing and demanding growth-related tourism statistics.
• Applying for membership to be part of ‘elite’ and obtain preferential
access to information and resources.
• Requesting finance and other support for development.
Academics, NGOs…
Subscribe to agenda by:
• Co-producing reports
• Providing consultancy to
growth-oriented programs
• Working within accepted
parameters and norms
Institutions
/ players

28. Measures of success need to change
Government: GDP
Tourism managers:
arrivals, expenditure
Companies: profit,
shareholder return
Well-being
Net benefit of
tourism
Value creation

29. Well-being as the outcome
OECD How’s Life and New Zealand Treasury Living Standards Dashboard (2018).
Tourism uses capital(s)
to produce services,
e.g.:
• Development
• Land use change
• “Social license”
• Ecosystem services
Tourism rebuilds
capital(s), e.g.:
• Staff training
• Cultural activities
• Ecosystem
restoration
• Carbon offsetting
Anna Pollock: Moving from Tourism as an
EXTRACTIVE Industry to a REGENERATIVE
Industry

30. Disruption and redistribution of power
- Collaborative economy, new
business models
- Cooperatives (capital
owned by community) and
social entrepreneurs
- Circular economy,
dematerialisation,
decroissance

31. Role of Media – mirror of society or shaping discourse?

32. - Tourism’s carbon footprint
increased by 14% between
2009 and 2013, despite
reductions in carbon
intensity of 12.9% (Lenzen
et al., 2017).
- Focus on technological
efficiency and not
behavioural change ->
conservation of resources.
Moving from incrementalism to profound behavioural
change

33. Incentive structures
Global advertising budget of US$ 584
billion in 2017 (tourism included). In 2021,
the advertisement industry will collectively
spend US$757 billion (Statista, 2018)
Award schemes???

34. Focusing on positive outcomes

35. - Strongly driven by industry interests (example: CORSIA – IATA
& ICAO)
- All-too-often reactive and short-term – risk adverse, i.e. by
definition mainstream and not revolutionary
- Tourism Ministries rarely develop specific climate policy nor do
they connect to national climate policies/targets
- Increasingly controlled by outside interests (think cruise ships)
Tourism policy and governance

36. Local control – including representation of nature

37. Based on L. Dwyer and A. Pollock

38. Why do Academics not speak up?
Assuming they believe the current system has failed.

39. External and internal barriers to communicate ‘collapse’
- Difficult to swim against the tide and challenge established leaders,
narratives, textbook arguments
- Scientists want to be 100% sure (see IPCC process) and avoid ‘panic’;
messages need to give hope (i.e. implicit self-censorship)
- It is easier to frame the “challenge as one of encouraging people to try
harder to be nicer and better, rather than coming together in solidarity to
either undermine or overthrow a system that demands we participate in
environmental degradation” (Bendall, 2018)
- Identity: in particular those involved in sustainability where “self-worth is
dependent on the perspective that progress on sustainability is possible
and that we are part of that progressive process” (Bendall, 2018)

41. THANK YOU
Prof Susanne Becken | s.becken@griffith.edu.au