Constructing an Evaluation Index System for China’s Low-Carbon Tourism Region—An Example from the Daxinganling Region

Yiming Liu,Sunhee Suk

doi:10.3390/su132112026

Abstract

With the intensification of global warming, the development of low-carbon tourism is not only an inevitable requirement for human development, but also an important way to enhance tourism, improve the quality of tourism, and obtain greater economic and social benefits from tourism. Scientifically and effectively constructing a low-carbon tourism development level evaluation index system is conducive to the healthy and sustainable development of the tourism industry. However, the current evaluation of the development level of low-carbon tourism mainly focuses on low-carbon development, energy conservation, and emission reduction. There are few studies and a lack of specific empirical research evaluating the development of low-carbon tourism. In this research, the Delphi method and analytic hierarchy process were used for data collection and corresponding weight analysis. This research refers to the results of existing studies on low-carbon tourism evaluation index systems, and constructs an objective and quantitative evaluation model. It establishes a low-carbon tourism development evaluation model with 34 specific indicators from the three dimensions of the tourism economic support level, the tourism low-carbon development level, and the tourism policy support level. The research results were applied to the Daxinganling region for verification. The results show that the development of tourism in the Daxinganling region has changed from a mode dominated by economic interests to a mode in which tourism-related parties begin to seek effective low-carbon methods to maintain low-carbon tourism activities. In addition, the Daxinganling region has the lowest level of low-carbon tourism development and the highest level of financial support. Based on the research conclusions, corresponding suggestions for the development of low-carbon tourism in the Daxinganling region are provided. The results are also intended to provide a reference point in the optimization of low-carbon tourism development models in this and other regions.

Highlights

With the growing problem of global warming, the concept of low-carbon tourism was officially introduced at the World Economic Forum in Copenhagen in 2009 [1]
Based on the current growth rate of the tourism industry, the contribution of tourism to global warming will increase by 188% by the year
As a matter reducing carbon emissions is a key responsibility of the tourism industry and a necessary requirement for the sustainable development of low-carbon tourism

Summary

Introduction

With the growing problem of global warming, the concept of low-carbon tourism was officially introduced at the World Economic Forum in Copenhagen in 2009 [1]. Of global carbon dioxide emissions [3,4]. Based on the current growth rate of the tourism industry, the contribution of tourism to global warming will increase by 188% by the year. As a matter reducing carbon emissions is a key responsibility of the tourism industry and a necessary requirement for the sustainable development of low-carbon tourism. Low-carbon tourism is based on the concept of a low-carbon economy [7], with low energy consumption [8], low pollution and low emissions [9], which can better unify the economic, social and environmental benefits of tourism [10]. Current research on low-carbon tourism focuses on the measurement of carbon emissions in the tourism industry [11,12,13], the impact of tourism carbon emissions on the climate [14,15,16], and low-carbon tourism

Objectives

Methods

Results

Conclusion