Numbers screwing up the travel industry

They know the price of everything – the value of nothing

IATA has just issued a statement saying that there a historic carbon agreement has moved a step closer.

The ‘step closer to a historic accord’ indicates that there would be a voluntary period up to 2027 and participation would only be mandatory after that

Very interesting, very historic. The understanding, when the European Union was forced by the industry to withhold their emissions caps legislation, was that a deal would be agreed by the industry for a global airline cap on emissions at a 2016 meeting of ICAO and that the cap would be in place by 2020.

Clearly the travel industry has a problem with emissions and, although the global industry only represents around 10% of overall emissions – it is growing dramatically. Moreover it is estimated that airlines represent a whopping 80% of these emissions.

So why are IATA and ICAO (the International Civil Aviation Organisation) treading water? Is it in the hope of a massive technical achievement, or do they think that global warming will go away, or are they just putting their heads in the sand?

It is very simple. The fact is that to align with global targets the travel industry will have to change and with it, the airlines.

There will be fewer international travelers, they will pay more, they will stay for longer periods, they will travel by land on short haul routes, and they will restrict air travel to long haul only.

This represents change for destinations and for the travel industry but no real pain – in fact both may well benefit. As far as airlines and plane makers are concerned, it may well represent disaster, certainly a great deal of pain.

No wonder they are fiddling while Rome burns – or at the very least postponing the grief.

And in the meantime the airlines are really screwing up their PR

Their vision of sustainable tourism appears to represent biofuels and winglets with a cursory glance at air traffic control problems.

They really have missed the point of sustainable tourism.

Where is the airline visionary that is talking about something other than bums on seats, cheap prices, and numbers, numbers numbers?

Where is the airline visionary that gets the fact that travel and tourism is about much, much more than money and distribution and who’s got the biggest fuselage?

When world leaders finally get the message that global warming is so dangerous and so imminent that statutory emission controls are absolutely necessary – airlines will be one of the first in line for rigid controls.

And if international tourism died as a result of emission controls what would be the negative consequences? Not many. Even the money men wouldn’t hurt – they would find more opportunities, including virtual tourism perhaps.

But, actually, travel has a trump card that it hasn’t so far used. An opportunity to avoid draconian anti-emission legislation.

One of tourism’s early pioneers, Thomas Cook, started creating and offering holidays to give people an alternative to alcohol. He felt that holidays would broaden minds, help to make people more healthy, help them to glory in the world’s beauty, help them to understand other cultures. He saw travel as a truly empowering activity, putting his customers on a path to dramatically broaden their perspectives through education and discovery. The shallow hedonism of today’s industry was a million miles from his vision.

What Thomas Cook saw was the real added value that travel offered.  The opportunity for true life-enhancement through experiences of distant cultures, societies and environments.

At its heart, sustainable tourism is about value – value gained by the destination community and value gained by the visitor with the travel industry, including the airlines as intermediaries.

But at the moment the whole industry is besotted with numbers and prices and both are slowly choking it.

Look at any top level destination – Venice, Florence, Amsterdam, New York, Ankor Wat, Dubrovnik, Barcelona – choking with too many tourists.

Brought there by the industry’s biggest emitters, as it happens – cruise companies and airlines.

Like Oscar Wilde said – they know the price of everything and the value of nothing.

Roll on legislation.

Valere Tjolle