the emerging global tourism geography—an environmental sustainability perspective新兴的全球旅游地理位置环境可持续性的角度.pdf

Sustainability 2012, 4, 42-71; doi:10.3390/su4010042 OPEN ACCESS sustainability ISSN 2071-1050 /journal/sustainability Article The Emerging Global Tourism Geography—An Environmental Sustainability Perspective Paul Peeters * and Martin Landré NHTV Breda University of Applied Sciences, P.O. Box 3917, 4800 DX Breda, The Netherlands; E-Mail: landre.m@nhtv.nl * Author to whom correspondence should be addressed; E-Mail: peeters.p@nhtv.nl; Tel.: +31-76-5332203; Fax: +31-76-5332205. Received: 17 November 2011; in revised form: 13 December 2011 / Accepted: 13 December 2011 / Published: 28 December 2011 Abstract: The current development of tourism is environmentally unsustainable. Specifically, tourism’s contribution to climate change is increasing while other sectors are reducing their greenhouse gas emissions. This paper has two goals: reveal the main structural cause for tourism’s emission growth and show the consequences thereof for (mitigation) policies. It is reasoned that the main cause for tourism’s strong emission growth is the time-space expansion of global tourism behavior. Contemporary tourism theory and geography fail to clearly describe this geographical development, making it difficult to understand this expansion and develop effective policies to mitigate environmental impacts. Therefore, this paper explores some elements of a ‘new tourism