WTTC unveils first ever water footprint for global tourism sector
The WTTC and Saudi-based Sustainable Tourism Global Center unveiled groundbreaking new water usage data for global tourism.
In one of the largest research projects of its kind, WTTC is able to accurately report and track its impact for the first time.
The findings were launched at the the UN 2023 Water Conference.
Chris Imbsen, Director of Sustainability at WTTC, revealed tourism’s entire water footprint is just 0.6% of global water use.
It is based on the latest figures for 2021.
In 2019, when the sector was at its peak, total water footprint was only 50% higher, but still less than 1% of the global total.
Tourism’s direct water use is significantly lower – in 2019 it was 0.2% of the global total and has fallen by half to just 0.1% of the global total.
Much of the sector’s water use is indirect, through its supply chain, predominantly agriculture and food production.
Between 2010 and 2019, the Travel & Tourism sector in Europe and Africa reduced direct water use.
In Europe, it fell by 8% and in Africa direct water use declined by 6%.
WTTC also has data on individual countries’ water use in the tourism sector.
“This will enable governments to work with the sector to further reduce water usage,” said Julia Simpson, WTTC CEO.
The research covering 185 countries across all regions, will be updated each year.
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