Ya-Yen Sun’s research while affiliated with The University of Queensland and other places

Tourism has a critical role to play in global carbon emissions pathway. This study estimates the global tourism carbon footprint and identifies the key drivers using environmentally extended input-output modelling. The results indicate that global tourism emissions grew 3.5% p.a. between 2009-2019, double that of the worldwide economy, reaching 5.2 Gt CO2-e or 8.8% of total global GHG emissions in 2019. The primary drivers of emissions growth are slow technology efficiency gains (0.3% p.a.) combined with sustained high growth in tourism demand (3.8% p.a. in constant 2009 prices). Tourism emissions are associated with alarming distributional inequalities. Under both destination- and resident-based accounting, the twenty highest-emitting countries contribute three-quarters of the global footprint. The disparity in per-capita tourism emissions between high- and low-income nations now exceeds two orders of magnitude. National tourism decarbonisation strategies will require demand volume thresholds to be defined to align global tourism with the Paris Agreement.

The visitor economy is responsible for a substantial percentage of the global carbon footprint. The mechanisms used to decarbonize it are insufficient, and the industry is relying on carbon trading with substandard credits that allow businesses to outsource the responsibility to decarbonize. We aim to transform carbon markets, help finance climate investments, and support decarbonization strategies. We identify and define the problem, outline the components and their interactions, and develop a conceptual model to transform carbon markets. The new, blockchain-based Carbon Tokenomics Model rolls out a decentralized database to store, trade, and manage carbon credits, with the goal of enabling sustainable climate finance investment. We outline the criteria needed for an industry-wide carbon calculator. We explain the process needed to increase rigor in climate investments in the visitor economy and introduce a delegated Proof of Commitment consensus mechanism. Our inclusive and transparent model illustrates how to reduce transaction costs and how to build consumer and industry trust, generating much-needed investments for decarbonization.

Tourism, including education-related travel, is one of Australia’s top exports and generates substantial economic stimulus from Australians travelling in their own country, attracting visitors to diverse areas including World Heritage rainforests, picturesque beachside villages, winery townships and endemic wildlife. The globally unprecedented 2019-20 bushfires burned worst in some of these pristine tourist areas. The fires resulted in tourism shutting down in many parts of the country over the peak tourist season leading up to Christmas and into the New Year, and tourism dropped in many areas not physically affected by the fires. Our research quantified the cost of the short-term shock from tourism losses across the entire supply chain using input-output (IO) analysis, which is the most common method for disaster analysis; to this end, we also developed a framework for disaggregating the direct fire damages in different tourism sectors from which to quantify the impacts, because after the fires, the economy was affected by COVID-19. We calculated losses of AU$2.8 billion in total output,$1.56 billion in final demand, $810 million in income and 7300 jobs. Our estimates suggest aviation shouldered the most losses in both consumption and wages/salaries, but that accommodation suffered the most employment losses. The comprehensive analysis highlighted impacts throughout the nation, which could be used for budgeting and rebuilding in community-and-industry hotspots that may be far from the burn scar.

Tourism, including education-related travel, is one of Australia’s top exports and generates substantial economic stimulus from Australians travelling in their own country, attracting visitors to diverse areas including World Heritage rainforests, picturesque beachside villages, winery townships and endemic wildlife. The globally unprecedented 2019-20 bushfires burned worst in some of these pristine tourist areas. The fires resulted in tourism shutting down in many parts of the country over the peak tourist season leading up to Christmas and into the New Year, and tourism dropped in many areas not physically affected by the fires. Our research quantified the cost of the short-term shock from tourism losses across the entire supply chain using input-output (IO) analysis, which is the most common method for disaster analysis; to this end, we also developed a framework for disaggregating the direct fire damages in different tourism sectors from which to quantify the impacts, because after the fires, the economy was affected by COVID-19. We calculated losses of AU$2.8 billion in total output,$1.56 billion in final demand, $810 million in income and 7300 jobs. Our estimates suggest aviation shouldered the most losses in both consumption and wages/salaries, but that accommodation suffered the most employment losses. The comprehensive analysis highlighted impacts throughout the nation, which could be used for budgeting and rebuilding in community-and-industry hotspots that may be far from the burn scar.