The Impact of Tourism Industry on Climate Change

Running Head: TRAVEL & TOURISM

TRAVEL & TOURISM
Introduction
The tourism industry is considered as one of the major contributors of CO2 and other
toxic emissions in the environment, being responsible for climate changes. The Paper
appraises the actions taken by Thomas Cook addressing the climate change caused by the
tourism industry. The paper also highlights the importance of business actions in the industry
to reduce their contributions in the global climate change.
About Thomas Cook
Thomas Cook Group is one of the leading British International travel company which
owns a number of operatives in the industry and the company also owns airlines grounded in
Germany, U.K, Balearics, & Scandinavia. The company has more than 2,900 stores, 33,000
personnel, 97 aircraft and over 20 million yearly clienteles making it the third largest tour
operator in Europe and the United Kingdom.
The subject of climate change
Tourism is accountable for contributing 8 percent of worldwide greenhouse gas
secretions (Gabbatiss, 2018). The tourism industry is accountable for contributing a major
part of CO2 emissions, and the transportation segment which includes car, bus and rail
contributes the largest proportion of air pollution. Air travel is considered as one of the major
contributors to global warming; it is accountable for more than 40% of carbon emissions
(Lenzen, et.al., 2018).
Most of the businesses in the travel & tourism industry are taking initiatives to uphold
sustainable methods, and apart from this, they are taking steps to measure the carbon
footprints and taking actions to reduce the environmental impacts (Higham, et. al., 2016).
Actions that were taken by Thomas Cook Group to address the climate change
According to the report given by Thomas Cook (2019a), Thomas Cook Airlines come
to be the first airlines in the United Kingdom to accomplish the ISO 14001 certification; the
certification was the result of the efficient Environment Management System upheld in
Thomas Cook. Thomas Cook is allied with the Sustainable Aviation Initiative, through which
the company focuses to reduce the emissions and noise caused by airlines. The company took
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