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alternatives need to be developed as alternatives to the current high carbon
mobility system.
The discourse of climate change, together with the present scenarios
of peak oil and the goal of a low-carbon society, have thus brought to the
fore the centrality of mobility to social life and urgent pressures to
drastically reduce or develop alternative mobilities. Mitigation strategies
mean that all kinds of mobilities and movements dependent on fossil-fuels
must somehow be reduced, or replaced by other alternative energy sources,
in order for a low carbon society to emerge. Changes are likely to come,
for example through modifying economic incentives, tax changes and
international agreements and policies. For tourism there may soon come
times when serious restrictions are put on its mobility. According to
Dennis and Urry:
It is clear that air travel would need to be the most heavily rationed of
the forms of transport that have so far become commonplace (Dennis
and Urry 2009, p. 157).
With a current annual growth rate of about 5% in the Western world,
the emissions from flying are expected to about triple in less than 25 years
and probably far more if one considers the potentially enormous growth
expected from China and other rapidly industrialising nations. This implies
that the “energy demands of tourism transport will undoubtedly be a focal
point for new regulatory structures” (Hall 2005, p. 343). With regards to
aviation, which indeed is central for tourism mobility, it has “been
identified as a significant and rapidly growing contributor of emissions of
greenhouse gases” and “there is increasing concern of how emissions from
this sector can be addressed in view of the global emission reduction
needs” (Gössling, Haglund, Kallgren, Revahl and Hultman 2009, p. 1). If
emissions from aircraft:
continue to grow at the observed rates, aviation alone may be
responsible for the total amount of emissions in the EU that can be
considered sustainable in the next 30 to 40 years (Gössling et al. 2009,
p. 2).
Changing human behaviour and tourism mobility is not easy. At the
individual level it seems that tourism consumers “increasingly claim they
have greater concern for the environment” but also that “little evidence
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