Assessment of Carbon Footprint Negative Effects for Nature in International Traveling

Abstract

Human travels are considered the biggest source of carbon dioxide emissions, and climate change is considered the most important part of this problem. On the other hand, the tourism sector is one of the sectors that facilitates intense human mobility and travel. The aim of this research is to estimate the carbon footprint of aircraft and road transportation due to international and domestic touristic trips to Marrakech/Morocco between 2010 and 2018. In this research, the preferred means of transportation and the distances traveled by the tourists who visited Marrakech/Morocco between 2010 and 2018 were used as a data set. Carbon footprint calculations were made according to each transportation vehicle preference. The total carbon footprint was calculated at the same time. In general, the average 9-year carbon footprint of touristic trips to Morocco from different parts of the world has been found to be 7148.90 tons in total. The per capita carbon footprint of all visitors from different countries of the world has been determined as 0.416 kg. However, tourism, due to its transport intensity, particularly air transport, is a growing source of greenhouse gas emissions. It should be taken into account in the definition of climate policies following the Paris Agreement.