The Development of Tourism in the Low Carbon Economy

Low-carbon economy has become an inevitable choice for the world's development. How to deal with the advent of low-carbon economy has become the tourism industry's concerns. This article explains the meaning of low-carbon economy, the relationship between the tourism and climate change, the reason that carbon emissions increase in the T&T sector, and tourism development approaches in low-carbon economy. A Low-Carbon Economy (LCE) or Low-Fossil-Fuel Economy (LFFE) is a concept that refers to an economy which has a minimal output of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions into the biosphere, but specifically refers to the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide. Recently, most of scientific and public opinion has come to the conclusion that there is such an accumulation of GHGs (especially CO2) in the atmosphere due to anthropogenic causes, that the climate is changing. The over-concentrations of these gases is producing global warming that affects long-term climate, with negative impacts on humanity in the foreseeable future. Globally implemented LCE's therefore, are proposed as a means to avoid catastrophic climate change, and as a precursor to the more advanced, zero-carbon society and renewable-energy economy. Some nations are low carbon-societies which are not heavily industrialized or populated. In order to avoid climate change at any point in the future, all nations considered carbon intensive societies and societies which are heavily populated, should become zero-carbon societies and economies. As a fundamental venue to coordinate social and economic development, guarantee energy security and respond to climate change, development of low carbon economy is gradually gaining the needed consensus from more and more countries. Though without a fixed academic definition, the core of developing low carbon economy is to establish a development pathway that has high energy efficiency, low carbon consumption and low emissions. Under a fair and effective international climate regime, the efficiency of energy exploration, generation, transmission, transformation and use is expected to be increased greatly and energy consumption greatly reduced, so that the carbon intensity in energy supply for economic growth is dramatically reduced, so are the carbon emissions from energy consumption. Through increasing carbon sink and using CCS technology, the GHG emissions from fossil fuels that are hard to reduce can be offset. In the meanwhile, through the establishment of reasonable and fair technology transfer and financial support mechanisms, developing countries can undertake the costs to shift towards low carbon patterns while being at the lowest end of the value chain in the international trade structure. The perspectives of development value need to be changed in order to promote the transition of consumption towards a sustainable and low carbon future.