There are shifts across the entire policy determining framework affecting green growth. At a global geopolitical level, it is a new emphasis on the Asia Pacific region with its large population and high poverty levels. In 2013 China became the second largest economy in the world and the fact that the historic meeting of a newly elected President Xi and President Obama made climate change response a priority is one very positive outcome of this shift. And is under significant domestic pressure to reduce pollution in its major cities and industrial areas.
On the multi-lateral stage the UN is increasing its institutional relevance. The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Climate Accords and the green economy transformation. The United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) is driving the overall green economy framework and UN Compact. In the contextual role of the World Bank Group (WBG) supporting development research, infrastructure, capacity building and funding has intensified and it has also been very active in green economy. Tourism in Africa: Harnessing Tourism for Growth and Improved Livelihoods. Within the WBG, International Finance Corporation (IFC) has grown in stature in acting to quell the threat of global economic meltdown and particularly the continuing pivotal European crisis.
The consolidation of regional groupings is another significant building block in a new world order. The European Union (EU), despite its chronic economic situation, remains a huge vibrant market, with an expanding membership and policy union ambitions. ASEAN and APEC are also strengthening their and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation market liberalization and development frameworks while the African Union (AUD and its sub-regional bodies are slowly but surely constructing integration around infrastructure, education and capacity building.
Added, the important US led Transatlantic Free Trade Area currently under discussion (TAFTA) and Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP). There is no doubt that these will have growing importance under a new US economic and security driven determination to play a full role in Asia and its re-ignited interest in boosting the world's largest trade flow in goods and services with the EU, as well as its long standing North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)
There are factors of change at work that will impact on the transformation process. The first is devolution- the growing political shifting of key element of decision making and funding down to a local level. Next is demographics and the rapidly changing population curve with older people living longer, with greater mobility through improved health care and greater numbers of younger job seeking people? Another such change factor is the increasing importance of Small island Developing States (SIDS).
Finally, connectivity- both in term of transportation and telecommunications- will be a vital determinant of the impact of travelism on countries, cities and communities and their green growth transformation. At the mega-city level will surely become champion change agents.
As to the former, the elements of climate response, low-carbon energy, balanced mixed economic growth, with social inclusion. In this context have a special place in the travelism framework- in the Caribbean, the Indian Ocean and South Pacific. As yet it seems that the focus still remains very much on the growth dimension with the green or sustainability.
New metric and road maps
It is time to act on the mapping of green and travelism. The 20-year old databases developed by UNWTO, WTTC and OECD are inadequate for the transformation task ahead. Tourism master planning and WTTC destination reports have been useful tools for historic promotion-led development, but they are less suited for a hyper-connected, super-collaborative ultra-transparent era.
Traditional metrics are limited in scope, with over-reliance on international arrivals and receipts collected by UNWTO. The excellent simulated satellite account data of WTTC is also too often used foe advancing the growth side of the equation, without the equally important impacts.
The pivotal domestic flows are latterly being brought more into policy discussions- prompted by the recognition that in times of international economic volatility or security crises, home markets are more resilient foreign ones an domestic consumption is a key component of stimulate packages. Moreover economic and environmental impacts of domestic travel are significant - China domestic market, for example, had reached 2.9 billion trips in 2012. There is material in both domestic and international databases, but it remains largely in separate silos.
In looking at metrics and mapping, another recent development is the massive promotion given by Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) to the visitor economy as a means to show the value of the sector for its constituents. It’s a number of issues- how PATA’s visitor economy relates to the WTTC’s well-defined travel and tourism economy with its 20-year database? ---------- If there is not a difference, then it would be useful to make that clear and very confusing not to do so. In its paper labeled ‘Meaningful Metrics, all the figures quoted for the PATA Visitor Economy seem to be identical to the WTTC Travel &
Tourism Economy outlined in its Economics Impacts Research Report 2013. If there is a difference, where is the data and what processes will be taken to establish them, in what time frame and under whose auspices? Will this be multi - stakeholder or developed with too much groups promotion and too little essential sustainability balance? Will cover the leakages which occur when residents travel aboard or when visitor travel is purchased outside the destination? How does it relate to issues like aircraft and cruise construction? In other words, how does it relate to Tourism Satellite Accounting? Most importantly, however, is the fundamental question as how to make sure that any database for the visitor economy cover impacts on the same terms as it measures benefit.
Such management of the impacts against national carbon commitments, destination carrying capacity, human development, local lifestyle qualities and the likes, must now become a fundamental requirement for travelism products, promotion and infrastructure, service and capacity building that it creates. It’s said that if you can’t measure it, then you can’t manage it.