Climate change has fallen off the industry’s agenda, but travel’s “growth cannot be limitless”, Noel Josephides told the Travel Foundation.
Josephides, Abta chairman and chairman of the Travel Foundation trustees, said: “Any discussion of carbon emissions in the travel industry seems to have faded away and the European emissions trading scheme is a shadow of what it was supposed to be.
“Strong growth in international travel is expected to continue for years – there must be 6,000 aircraft on order in the US and Europe. They are more fuel‑efficient, but what happens to the older models? They will be used elsewhere.”
He said: “Is it a God-given right to travel around the world for next to nothing?
“It’s not fashionable to say this, but growth cannot be limitless. The industry needs to come together as never before to consider its actions on a bigger scale.”