Carbon Footprint and Its Composition: A Comparison between Domestic and International Tourists to Chenzhou City, China

Qiong Xiao, Yongde Zhong () and Jinyang Deng
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Qiong Xiao: Tourism College, Central South University of Forestry and Technology, Changsha 410004, China
Yongde Zhong: Tourism College, Central South University of Forestry and Technology, Changsha 410004, China
Jinyang Deng: School of Natural Resources, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV 26506, USA

Sustainability, 2023, vol. 15, issue 7, 1-20

Abstract: This study aims to provide a scientific basis to address the strategies for sustainable development of urban tourism industry. By using the Life Cycle Assessment method, it decomposes tourism activities into seven different functional units (different tourism activities)-transportation, catering, accommodation, sightseeing, shopping, entertainment and waste disposal-based on the expression of services provided by tourism activities, and determine the boundary range of each different functional unit in terms of the pathways and the functional orientation of the products (resources and energy) provided by the services of each functional unit. A “bottom-up” model is then constructed to measure the carbon footprint of tourism. Based on data collected from various sources for the period 2014–2019, it compares the composition and differences of domestic and international tourists’ carbon footprints in Chenzhou City, one of inland mountainous regions of central China, through several steps, including target and scope definition, inventory analysis, impact evaluation and life cycle interpretation. Results show that domestic tourists contributed more than 90% of the total annual carbon footprints to the city, ranging from 76.8809 × 10 6 kg to 194.6067 × 10 6 kg. Transportation is the dominant category, accounting for over 80% of the total carbon footprints. The study suggests that optimizing tourism resources, reducing transportation distances, and switching to low-carbon modes can effectively reduce the tourism carbon footprints in Chenzhou and similar regions. This study reveals the structural characteristics of the tourism carbon footprint and its influencing factors and provides valuable insights for policy development involving energy saving and low carbon tourism, thus enhancing the long-term sustainability of tourism development in an urban tourism destination like Chenzhou.

Keywords: tourism; energy consumption; carbon footprint; Chenzhou; China (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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