TUI Travel UK managing director Dermot Blastland has hit out at the industry’s collective failure to take climate change more seriously.
Blastland said in an interview with Travel Weekly: “The industry has been appalling; always pointing the finger somewhere else, saying aviation is only 2% of global emissions.
“Never mind telling other people what they should do. If we do not take climate change seriously, and behave responsibly, it could be very damaging.
“We should cut emissions dramatically. We have to get to where people can go on holiday with a zero-carbon impact,” he said.
He warned that aviation would become more expensive as a result.
Blastland spoke out as The Travel Convention in Barcelona saw the launch of the Tourism 2023 project, aimed at preparing the industry for a rapidly changing and warming world.
ABTA chief executive Mark Tanzer told the ABTA event: “Everyone in this room will live in the shadow of climate change. We face profound structural challenges if we are to provide tourism on the scale we are used to.”
Tanzer said: “Tourism 2023 raises big questions about the sustainability of our industry. There are places we really do not want to end up.”
He told Travel Weekly: “This requires a restructure of how we do things in certain areas.”
Although Tourism 2023 was produced with the support of the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Blastland was scathing about the government’s lack of support for industry efforts. “The government has been shocking. There is no leadership, just tokenism. Air passenger duty is not used to incentivise environmental good behaviour. It is penal,” he said.
All airlines should be required to publicise their emissions per passenger per kilometre flown, Blastland said.
“But there is resistance to doing that because other airlines know it would [make them look bad],” he said.
In a message aimed at ABTA delegates heading back to the UK, Blastland said: “Take climate change seriously. Get on top of this.
“Everyone has a carbon impact – take responsibility,” he said.