Case Study: Moving to Carbon Clean Destinations

GreenEarth.travel is an integrated, holistic destination strategy to assist the tourism industry move into the new green economy. This approach has evolved over the last 15 years through a number of strategies initiated by the authors in their policy, management, and research activities. This has involved development of Agenda 21 for Travel and Tourism, Green Globe, Earthcheck, Earthlung, and most recently GreenEarth.travel. The GreenEarth.travel approach has been developed while the authors worked on sustainable destination strategies for Sri Lanka, Turks and Caicos, and Sharm el Sheikh in Egypt. GreenEarth.travel includes a general set of criteria to guide development of destinations that seek to move to a green economy. The criteria identify key components that need to be addressed to put a destination onto a carbon clean pathway. The plan offers a structured, creative approach both to adapt to climate change risks and to take advantage of the opportunities provided by the broader “green economy” change gathering momentum globally