Estimating The Carbon Footprint Of Regional Tourism Industry Based On Input-Output Analysis

Global climate change is one of the most important and challenging problems in today’s world. It is a generally acknowledged fact that global climate change is caused by increased concentrations of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. Tourism industry is the world’s biggest industry, and the measurement and control of tourism industry carbon footprint is of great significance to achieve the targets of global emissions reductions. However, measuring the carbon footprint of tourism industry is more difficult than that of other industries due to the industrial characters of tourism.Based on global change theory, industrial economics and national economic accounting theory, this study adopts the Input-Output Analysis and Tourism Satellite Account method to establish the theoretical framework of the estimation of carbon footprint on the industrial scale and to develop a top-down calculation method of carbon footprint of regional tourism industry. And then, this research excavates in depth the data of 144 sectors Input-Output Table, Tourism Satellite Account (2004/ 2007) and Economic Census Yearbook (2004/2008) to establish data base of regional tourism industry carbon footprint, and takes Zhejiang Province as case study to calculate its tourism industry carbon footprint from production-based accounting and consumption-based accounting. Finally, the estimations of Zhejiang tourism industry carbon footprint are Compared, analyzed and verified, and some policy suggestion are proposed using normative analysis method to advance the "low carbon tourism" in Zhejiang or China.The research approach follows the general framework of "theoretical analysis-empirical research-theoretical conclusion":The theoretical analysis part focuses on three core questions, i.e. "what is carbon footprint of tourism industry", "why carbon footprint of tourism industry is important" and "how to calculate the carbon footprint of tourism industry". Above all, I propose a working definition of the term’carbon footprint of tourism industry’ Occurring along the entire supply chain and under a specified metric(such as tone, kg, etc.), the’carbon footprint of tourism industry’stands for a certain amount of CO2 emissions that are relevant to climate change and associated with tourism production or consumption activities within the specified spatial and temporal system boundary. Mmeasuring carbon footprint of tourism industry can answer the question whether tourism industry is low cabin industry or high carbon industry, and be favorable for adjusting and optimizing the industrial structure to ensure our country’s energy consumption and emission reduction targets in the process of economic transformation. Combined with Tourism Satellite Account method, a top-down-based Input-Output Analysis (IOA) is applied for calculating the carbon footprint of tourism industry in this dissertation. According to the IPCC National Greenhouse Gas List Guidelines and based on the data of tourism Characteristic Activity(Products) and Tourism Connected Activity (Products) in Tourism Satellite Account, this research employs the direct consumption coefficients and the complete consumption coefficient in Input-Output table to calculate the apparent fuel consumption of tourism industry. Therefore, carbon footprint of tourism industry can be estimated using carbon emission coefficient of various kinds of fossil energy.The study results show:1) in 2004, direct and whole process carbon footprint based on tourist value added is 3146317.80 t CO2 and 10812010.80 t CO2, respectively; 2) direct and whole process carbon footprint based on tourism output is 6411050.75 t CO2 and 24987918.15 t CO2, respectively; 3) in 2007, direct and whole process carbon footprint based on tourist value added is 3462025.45 t CO2 and 12378295.14 t CO2, respectively; and 4) direct and whole process carbon footprint based on tourism output is 9227166.68 t CO2 and 32747125.25 t CO2, respectively.In 2004, direct and whole process carbon footprint based on regional tourism consumption is 3146317.80 t CO2 and 10812010.80 t CO2, respectively; 2) direct and whole process carbon footprint based on resident tourism consumption is 6411050.75 t CO2 and 24987918.15 t CO2, respectively; 3) in 2007, direct and whole process carbon footprint based on regional tourism consumption is 3462025.45 t CO2 and 12378295.14 t CO2, respectively; and 4) direct and whole process carbon footprint based on resident tourism consumption is 9227166.68 t CO2 and 32747125.25 t CO2, respectively.In 2004 and 2007, carbon footprint of tourism industry in Zhejiang accounts for 1.18%% and 0.97% respectively of the total emission of Zhejiang Province, however, the tourist value added accounts for 4.81%% and 5.1% respectively of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of Zhejiang Province. Furthermore, carbon intensity of Zhejiang tourism industry is far less than average of China or Zhejiang Province, which illustrates Zhejiang tourism industry is with certain low carbon industry of nature, and can play more important role in energy saving and emission reduction. Nevertheless, Zhejiang tourism industry’s Carbon footprint per capita is well above the average of Zhejiang Province or China, and much higher than that of household, which illustrates Zhejiang tourism activity is a kind of consumption with high carbon intensity. At the same time, Zhejiang Province have a net inflow of carbon footprint of tourism industry, and this suggests carbon footprint of Zhejiang tourism industry is not all attribute to Zhejiang inhabitant, inbound and domestic but outside the province visitors should be responsible partly for it, too.In the sectoral structure of carbon footprint of Zhejiang tourism industry, tourist-related transport is the largest sector, followed by Accommodation, Food-and beverage-serving, Travel agency and other intermediary services, tourism activities and shopping. In the origin spatial structure of carbon footprint of Zhejiang tourism industry, domestic but outside the province visitors accounts for the largest share, which contributes about half the total amount of the carbon footprint based on regional tourism consumption. In the destination spatial structure of carbon footprint of Zhejiang tourism industry, more than half of carbon footprint based on resident tourism consumption emits in Zhejiang Province, and Zhejiang inhabitants’ contribution to the carbon footprint of world other than Zhejiang is relatively small.In the consumption structure, carbon footprint based on visitor final consumption expenditure in cash dominates and accounts for above 90%; however, its share takes on a descenting trend from 2004 to 2007. At the same time, carbon footprint based on visitor final consumption expenditure in kind and tourism social transfers in kind rise rapidly. It is shown that recessive public products and services supplied to visitors by government or non-governmental organization (NGO) are increasing. In the energy structure, raw coal has a highest proportion, about 50%, which reflects the energy structure of China, i.e. being rich in coal, lack of petroleum and natural gas. Nevertheless, carbon footprint of natural gas increase dramatically from 2004 to 2007, which accord with the trend of low carbon tourism. In the visitor structure, carbon footprint of same-day visitor accounts for above 10% and that of tourist occupy 90%. In addition, the carbon intensity of same-day visitor significantly lowers than that of tourist.This study suggests there are two approaches to reduce the carbon footprint of tourism industry and implement low carbon tourism. One is the energy conservation and emission reduction, another approach is carbon offset. We should frame tourism transport demand management and popularize the "slow travel" to mine potential of emission reduction through policy instrument. As for carbon offset, voluntary and principal-agent contract carbon offsets mechanism should be adopted in Zhejiang Province.Three innovations are presented in the part of theoretical conclusion. In theory, the theoretical framework and calculation method of measuring regional tourism industry carbon footprint is established. In practice, this study answers the question whether tourism industry is low carbon industry or high carbon industry and the results show that the production of tourism is of low carbon and the consumption of tourism is of high carbon, however. In methodology, combining the Input-Output Analysis(IOA) with the data of Tourism Satellite Account(TSA), a method depending on existing second-hand data and without increase in extra workload is put forward. At the same time, there are some defects existing in the research, such as singleness on research technique, lack of detailed information on the process scale, secondary processing on data, and so on. Finally, the directions for further research, which include:1) correction and improvement to existing method and the construction of comprehensive research method, and 2) study on carbon offset mechanism of tourism industry and the pathway of low carbon tourism development, are presented.