Flying up for debate

Vision editor to defend international air tourism in university debate

Want a sustainable Holiday? Fly to Eco-land and stay in a resort run by a local co-operative, where you can live in a mud hut, eat local food and meet local people! Writes Jo Guiver.

This type of inducement is greeted with scepticism by many who are concerned about the environmental costs of flying. Others point to the social benefits to local communities of encouraging wealthy Westerners to spend their holiday money in places where the money will really reach local people and where destination communities have a say in how tourism is developed. Such tourism can support sustainable practices in the resort and educate tourists about the importance of the environment to people in other cultures.

Is it possible to evaluate the social benefits of tourism against the environmental damage of flying? Are the impacts of climate change and reducing stocks of fossil fuels so urgent and devastating that they outweigh the benefits they bring to parts of the developing world? Or is increasing prosperity bringing more equity, an important step towards tackling climate change and peak oil?

The clash of opinions will be aired in a debate on 30th March at the University of Central Lancashire, where two staunch advocates of not flying will take issue with two believers in the power of tourism to bring sustainable development to developing countries and other destinations.

Arguing for bringing the benefits of tourism through flying are TravelMole’s Sustainability Editor Valere Tjolle, publisher of the Sustainable Tourism Report Suite and Dr Davina Stanford, writer, researcher and lecturer in responsible tourism at the International Centre for Research in Events, Tourism and Hospitality at Leeds Met University.

Arguing against the environmental damage caused by the ever-increasing number of flights is Paul Peeters, former aeronautic engineer and now renowned critic of aviation, Associate Professor at Breda NLTV University in the Netherlands. He is joined by Professor Les Lumsdon from the University of Central Lancashire, author of numerous books and papers about reducing the impact of leisure travel, including a recent book about Slow Travel.

Keeping order in what promises to be a heated debate is Professor Richard Sharpley Professor of Tourism and Development at the University of Central Lancashire author of numerous books and papers about tourism, development and sustainability and editor of Tourism, Planning and Development Journal.

The debate takes place at the University of Central Lancashire in Darwin Lecture Theatre on 30th March at 4pm and a warm invitation is extended to all who would like to attend. If you would further information, directions to the venue or electronic copy of the poster, please contact Dr Jo Guiver of the University’s Institute of Transport and Tourism who have organised the event. ([email protected], 01772 894923).

Sustainable Tourism Report Suite 2012 Special Offers HERE