Awareness of Tourism Impacts on Climate Change and the Implications for Travel Practice: A Polish Perspective

Air travel is forecast to grow globally at around 5% per annum over 30 years, in direct conflict with targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by between 60% and 80% by 2050. Many authors identify individual behavioral change, with consumers choosing fewer flights, as a contributor to reducing growth. An increasing number of studies examine knowledge about climate change and how this influences decisions to take holidays by air, although these have focused on tourists from developed countries where aviation growth is slowing, whereas future high growth will come from emerging economies. This article explores attitudes to flying from one emerging economy, Poland. A survey of Polish nationals conducted in Cracow in 2010 revealed concern over climate change although knowledge of its causes was poor. Analysis, using a social representations perspective, showed significant societal structures embed air travel as the norm and identified both internal and external barriers to behavioral change.