The energy costs of the Ecotourism Summit in Quebec

Abstract

The Ecotourism Summit, one of the main events of the International Year of Ecotourism 2002, was said by the World Tourism Organisation to have been a 'huge success', with delegates from 133 different countries. However, the energy demand of the delegates' (long-distance) travel to Quebec was apparently not taken into account. Calculations suggest that the 1164 delegates from 133 countries consumed 29.8 terajoules (TJ). This energy use is equivalent to the emission of 2,057 tonnes of CO₂. The energy use of almost 30 TJ for air travel to the Ecotourism Summit could sustain 2095 Nepali citizens, 432 world citizens or 90 Canadians (IEA, 2001) for a whole year. It could well be argued, therefore, that the promotion of web conferences could be further enhanced to take some pressure off the environment.