The Linkage Analysis of Environmental Impact of Tourism Industry

Abstract

Abstract Tourist activity has played an important role in global economic activity, and tourism industry has been the important industry that many countries make effort to develop. According to the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), international visits worldwide have risen from 675 million in 2000 to 940 million in 2010, and tourism industry contributes 9% of global gross domestic product (GDP). In Taiwan, domestic travel increases from 79 million in 2000 to 120 million in 2010, and tourism industry contributes 4.7% of GDP. On the contrary, the environment issue of tourism industry has not yet been recognized since it i known as an “industry without chimney.” Most researchers on tourism industry are concerned with the economic growth and they agree that tourism industry is important to local economic development. Moreover, the research of the environmental impact cause of tourism industry is focused on carrying capacity and energy consumption; there are only a few researches discussing the relation between tourism industry and environment.In this research, we combined the regional input-output tables which estimated by using RAS procedures with green-gross national products to assess both the direct and indirect environmental impact of tourism industry development in Taiwan. Because of the data acquisition is restricted, we used transactions table of domestic prices, energy balance sheet, green-gross national products, tourism satellite account, gross county product, etc. in Taiwan in 2006. After adjusting industrial sectors and separating tourism industry from other data, we used regional Economic Input-Output Life-Cycle Assessment (EIO-LCA) to find out the environmental impact in different regions. Thus, we could analyze the link of environmental impact in different counties by the distribution of demand-supply industries.