Low-carbon tourism comes into being under the background of low-carbon economy. According to the survey, from 198 1 to 1990, the global average temperature increased by 0.48℃ compared with 100 years ago. The main reason for global warming is that human beings have used a lot of fossil fuels such as coal and oil in the past century and emitted excessive carbon dioxide. It has high transmittance for visible light (3.8~7.6nm, short wave) radiated by the sun and high absorption for long wave radiation (such as infrared ray) reflected by the earth, thus forming a "greenhouse effect". Global warming has brought very bad consequences: melting glaciers, rising sea levels, loss of coastal wetlands, mangroves and coral reefs; The rainy season is prolonged and floods are more frequent; The ice and snow in the Arctic Ocean and Antarctic Peninsula melted, and the biological population perished; Infectious diseases spread through extreme weather and climatic time such as El Nino, drought and flood, posing a great threat to human health. Therefore, greenhouse gases have reached an uncontrollable period. Climate change will increase natural disasters, billions of people will be affected, and hundreds of millions of people will face the threat of famine. If the temperature rises above 1.5~2.5 degrees, 20%~30% of animal and plant species will be in danger of extinction.
199765438+In February, the third Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change was held in Kyoto, Japan. 1Representatives of 49 countries and regions discussed and formulated the Kyoto Protocol, and clearly pointed out in the second paragraph: "Stabilize the greenhouse gas content in the atmosphere at an appropriate level to prevent severe climate change from harming human beings". On June 5438+February 19, 2009, the United Nations Climate Change Conference was held in Copenhagen, Denmark. The conference reached the Copenhagen Accord, adhering to the principle of "* * * common but differentiated responsibilities" established by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Kyoto Protocol, and making arrangements for developed countries to implement mandatory emission reduction and developing countries to take autonomous mitigation actions. "Low carbon" has become a positive measure to deal with global warming. Low-carbon tourism was born under the background of low-carbon economy. For a long time, tourism has shown its unique advantages in the important historical period of China's economic development and transformation, and has gradually realized the construction of ecological civilization with its industrial characteristics of "low resource consumption, large driving coefficient, many employment opportunities and good comprehensive benefits". Borrowing the idea of low-carbon economy, low-carbon tourism is a green tourism based on low energy consumption and low pollution. From the tourism itself, tourism is a comprehensive activity including eating, living, traveling, traveling, entertainment and shopping, which inevitably brings a lot of carbon emissions. Therefore, the so-called "low-carbon tourism" is a new tourism consumption mode in which tourists establish low-carbon awareness, control the carbon emissions of various tourism consumption behaviors at a reasonable level, and minimize the carbon emissions.
2. The significance of creating low-carbon tourist attractions
The significance of "low-carbon tourism" lies not in slogan, but in implementation. The construction of low-carbon tourist attractions has at least the following three practical significance:
(1) Innovative scenic spot development rules.
The establishment of low-carbon scenic spots is a systematic project, and the complexity of the problem has given birth to new rules for the development of scenic spots. For example, how to integrate low-carbon measurement indicators into the existing scenic spot evaluation system; How to reform the management mode of existing scenic spots under the low-carbon operation mode; How to replace traditional energy with new energy and new technology; Whether the comprehensive benefits of ecological culture can be maximized needs the guidance of rules.
(2) Promote the integrated development of regional low-carbon industries.
In the low-carbon construction and transformation of traditional scenic spots, it is inevitable to fully penetrate the concept of low-carbon development into other industries and regions, which is conducive to activating regional superior resources, building an integrated and interactive mechanism, promoting industrial transformation and upgrading, and finally realizing the low-carbon process of other industries in the region and building a "mutually beneficial * * *" regional development model.
(3) Promote people to develop low-carbon living habits.
Visitors in low-carbon tourist attractions can experience the low-carbon lifestyle in terms of diet, accommodation, transportation and communication. Through low-carbon knowledge propaganda and carbon compensation activities in scenic spots, let them deeply understand the meaning of low carbon, educate them to save resources, actively protect the ecological environment, continue to adhere to the low-carbon lifestyle after tourism activities, and gradually form a lifestyle in the era of ecological civilization.
3 Main manifestations of carbon emissions in tourist attractions
The carbon emission of tourist attractions mainly comes from transportation, especially air flight, accommodation and entertainment facilities, theme park entertainment, skiing and other tourism activities. According to the latest research of the World Tourism Organization, in 2005, the total carbon dioxide emissions of tourism, transportation and accommodation were 1 192Mt and 284Mt respectively. The carbon dioxide emissions of global tourism account for about 5% of the total global carbon dioxide emissions, and the contribution value excluding flight is 3%. Before 2035, the carbon emissions of tourism will increase by about 2.5% annually; By 2035, the carbon dioxide emissions of tourism, transportation and accommodation will reach 2436Mt and 728Mt respectively. In addition, the luxury consumption of tourism has caused negative environmental impact. For example, ordinary residents generally use 100~300 liters of water a day, but the water consumption of star-rated hotels reaches 500~2000 liters a day, which is higher in ultra-luxury hotels. Another example is that with the climate warming, the winter snow period is shortened and the snowfall is reduced, so tourism projects such as skiing have to rely on Fu Na technology. It is estimated that Fu Na in Beijing consumes half of the water in Kunming Lake in one winter, which is equivalent to110 of the total daily water consumption in Beijing, that is, the water consumption of more than 8,300 households in one year. Therefore, limiting the carbon emissions of tourist attractions should focus on the following aspects:
(1) Low-carbon transportation.
First, traffic control is implemented in scenic spots. Bicycles and livestock can be used as vehicles to encourage hiking and minimize carbon dioxide emissions caused by traffic. Shuttle between scenic spots, CMB or battery car can be arranged to pick up guests regularly. Secondly, travelers are encouraged to choose low-carbon means of transportation, such as giving up airplanes and choosing trains, cars and ships. Short-distance travelers can walk or ride bicycles, which not only achieves the purpose of environmental protection, but also benefits their physical and mental health.
(2) Low-carbon accommodation.
The more luxurious the hotel, the higher its carbon emissions. Therefore, in low-carbon tourist attractions, tourists should be encouraged to stay in comfortable and convenient budget hotels, country inns and family hotels. And they are not allowed to provide disposable toiletries for free in the hotel. They should be encouraged to bring their own toiletries to save water and electricity when they check in.
(3) Low-carbon diet.
Try to choose local foods in tourist destinations as ingredients to avoid energy consumption and carbon emissions during transportation, packaging and storage of foreign goods; Choose green food and avoid using fertilizers, pesticides, growth hormones and additives; Choose your own tableware to avoid using disposable plastic tableware to consume a lot of petrochemical products.
(4) Low-carbon tour.
Tourists should be civilized during the tour, leaving no footprints, leaving nothing, and not throwing garbage casually; Visitors can also participate in activities such as afforestation to increase carbon sinks, make up for carbon losses caused by transportation and consumption, and thus achieve the role of feeding back the environment.
(5) Low carbon shopping.
Tourists can benefit the local economy by buying local products and souvenirs of tourist destinations, which can reduce the behavior of local people cutting down trees, quarrying stones and digging mines to make a living. Provide all kinds of advice on low-carbon tourism, such as providing professional low-carbon tour guides, integrating low-carbon knowledge while explaining the beautiful scenery, inquiring about low-carbon vehicle rental points, and providing low-carbon diet information; Label "low-carbon merchant shops": All businesses that respond to the needs of not using disposable tableware, implementing garbage sorting and recycling, not offering packaging plastic bags voluntarily, and giving priority to using local ingredients will be labeled. Tourists should bring their own drinking water as much as possible, do not buy bottled water or buy less, resist over-packaging goods, and reduce the amount of waste and waste of resources.
4 scenic spots face low-carbon dilemma
(1) It takes time for tourists to develop the "low-carbon" habit.
Low-carbon tourism is a brand-new way of tourism. Low-carbon tourism in scenic spots means that many tourists' usual travel behaviors need to be changed. For example, hotels no longer provide daily necessities such as toothbrushes and toothpaste for free. Reduce the frequency of changing sheets; Replace cars and other means of transportation with battery cars and livestock; Take the garbage home by yourself; Bring your own tableware to reduce the use of disposable tableware; Eat vegetarian food and so on. This brand-new way of traveling challenges many people's travel habits. If the public can accept it, it will undoubtedly achieve a win-win situation of energy conservation and environmental protection and high tourism value experience. On the other hand, if people can't accept it, it will inevitably reduce the experience value of tourists and even reduce the satisfaction of tourists in scenic spots.
(2) The technical threshold is high and it is difficult to realize small and medium-sized scenic spots.
To build a low-carbon scenic spot, first introduce low-carbon technology and change the existing energy consumption mode, which involves the energy supply of the scenic spot, such as changing the energy utilization mode of the scenic spot and using ecological energy and energy-saving and environmental-friendly energy such as solar energy, bioenergy, organic energy and other clean energy; Vehicle replacement, such as replacing cars with battery cars and bicycles; Whether the building adopts energy-saving and pollution-free environmental protection materials; Add low-carbon tour guides, set up low-carbon communication, catering and accommodation services, garbage and waste sorting and recycling services. For large-scale scenic spots with abundant funds, innovative technology can be realized through their own technology accumulation, but for ordinary small and medium-sized scenic spots, it is unable to solve it. Moreover, as far as the technology of using new energy in China is concerned, it is difficult for scenic spots to fully use new energy. According to the research of the Strategic Research Group in the Energy Field of Chinese Academy of Sciences, at present, China has not yet formed the technical specifications of solar energy, the quality certification standards of technical products, some key equipment depends on imports, some high-efficiency, low-cost and environmentally-friendly technologies still depend on foreign countries, the utilization rate of agricultural and forestry wastes is low, and the research process of cultivating energy plants is slow.
(3) The cost is high and the process is difficult.
From the perspective of scenic spot management, the cost of low-carbon transformation in scenic spots mainly comes from technology renewal, substitution and financing, such as the equipment purchase cost paid by immature independent innovation technology; The financing cost caused by large investment and limited financing channels has led to the instinctive retreat of scenic spots in the process of implementing low-carbon transformation.
(4) The scenic spot is "low-carbon", and its advantages and disadvantages are hard to measure.
At present, the evaluation criteria of scenic spots still follow the traditional industrialization criteria to measure the development of personalized tourism in the post-industrial era. These hard standards are totally unsuitable for low-carbon scenic spots when evaluating 5A-level scenic spots. In the evaluation and measurement of scenic spots, the supremacy of economic GDP has always been the pursuit of the concept. Increasing tourist reception and strengthening the development of scenic spots are the main growth points of GDP in scenic spots. However, the unlimited expansion of tourist reception and over-exploitation will inevitably cause damage to the ecological environment of scenic spots, so under the requirements of low-carbon economy, the current evaluation system does not meet the evaluation standards of low-carbon scenic spots.
Five ways out
(1) Policy support.
National policy support is the key to the construction of low-carbon scenic spots. The state should introduce more detailed policies and regulations to standardize and institutionalize low-carbon tourism, so as to accelerate the pace of entering low-carbon tourism. Increase support for the construction of low-carbon projects in scenic spots from the aspects of funds, policies and land, encourage scenic spots and tourism-related enterprises to accelerate the promotion of low-carbon tourism mode, including formulating policies to further develop and expand green enterprises, supporting tourism enterprises such as scenic spots, hotels, restaurants, tourism and transportation to make use of new energy and new materials, and timely and comprehensively introduce energy-saving and emission-reduction technologies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and carbon consumption, and finally form a circular economy model of the whole industry chain; Establish industry access standards, introduce low-carbon tourism indicators for routine assessment and management of scenic spots and related enterprises, so that low-carbon tourism can truly become a fashionable and healthy lifestyle that people pursue.
(2) Strategic alliances should be established between scenic spots to break through cost and technical barriers.
Under the background of low-carbon economy, scenic spots are also facing the pressure of technological change, equipment renewal, infrastructure and knowledge creation and dissemination. If the scenic spots can form a strategic alliance and cope with external changes, they will certainly enhance their competitiveness. There are two main modes: one is horizontal strategic alliance. Combine the resources and technologies of other scenic spots at the same stage in the value chain of tourist attractions to form a more valuable alliance system. Technology alliance: combine with other scenic spots to study energy, transportation and infrastructure technologies suitable for low-carbon scenic spots, integrate the advantages of human and knowledge resources, form a complementary collaborative alliance between scenic spots, share the development cost of new technologies, and form a new competitive advantage for enterprises in the era of low-carbon economy. Marketing alliance: The formation of marketing alliance can avoid the negative effects of similar scenic spots in fierce competition. Low-carbon tourism is a new tourism model in the era of ecological civilization, and how to innovate the marketing model is still in the exploration stage. Through marketing alliance, we can expand the influence of low-carbon tourism, reduce costs, improve efficiency and realize complementary advantages through resource sharing in marketing. Second, vertical alliance. Vertical alliance refers to the cooperative competition system in which scenic spots cooperate with other tourism enterprises at different stages of the tourism industry chain to realize value-added. Vertical alliance is mainly manifested in the alliance between tourist attractions and travel agencies. In order to reduce carbon emissions caused by tourist routes, educate tourists on low-carbon knowledge and standardize low-carbon behaviors, low-carbon scenic spots should maintain close communication with travel agencies and form a vertical alliance with similar interests, which will help increase the number of tourists in low-carbon scenic spots.
(3) Construct the concept of scenic spot evaluation based on ecological GDP.
Under the background of low-carbon economy, we must first change the concept of economic GDP, establish an "ecological GDP" system as soon as possible, safeguard the ecological environment of scenic spots, coordinate the relationship between people, nature and society, and build a balanced and harmonious standard system. Construct a set of indicators reflecting the overall development level of the scenic spot, which is composed of economic indicators, social indicators, cultural indicators and environmental indicators, which run through the quantitative indicators and qualitative indicators of the evaluation system, economic development, quality of life, the gap between the rich and the poor, living environment and other indicators, as well as people's opinions, views, expectations and satisfaction with the evaluated object.