Dr. Cristina Campos

Cristina Campos, David Gutiérrez, Ana Cláudia Dias, Paula Quinteiro, Ángel Herrero, María Gallego, Pedro Villanueva-Rey, Jara Laso, Jaume Albertí , Pere Fullana-i-Palmer, Alba Bala, Lela Mélon, Margalida Fullana, Ilija Sazdovski, Mercè Roca, Ramon Xifré, María Margallo, Rubén Aldaco

The tourism sector after COVID-19 has raised different concerns that have lead to a development towards a more sustainable model of tourism. After the health crisis, the increase in environmental awareness of tourists has become evident. In this context, the great paradigm of ‘small-scale’ tourism has been developed as opposed to traditional tourism. The present work seeks to contribute to sustainable development in the Spanish tourism sector, comparing a hostel in Cantabria (considered as ‘small scale’ /religious tourism) and a hotel in Lloret de Mar (considered as a traditional tourism) one using the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology to verify advantages and disadvantages of both types of tourism. The functional unit (FU) used was ‘per guest night with breakfast included’. The results have revealed similar results for both establishments in all impact categories, as can be seen in its contribution to Climate Change (4.41 kg CO₂ eq./FU caused by the hotel and 4.78 kg CO₂ eq./FU by the hostel). The electricity consumption and the impact of the breakfast in the hostel were identified as main contributors to environmental burdens (with 76.72 % of the hotel's impact to climate change and 77.36 % for the hostel); hence, improvement opportunities envisaged were focused on these critical points. On the one hand, a biomass boiler, a solar water-heating system and a hybrid solar/biomass heating are considered a more sustainable alternatives related to electricity. Natural gas and diesel Consumption, respectively.

On the other hand, oatmeal, Greek yoghurt and berries are good options for a breakfast with a reduced environmental impact. It is also important to implement responsible and green practices in order to achieve more environmentally sustainable alternative and traditional accommodations. Therefore, it can be concluded by stating that LCA is a tool capable of identifying and studying the processes with the highest environmental impact in order to find out the most sustainable form of tourism.

Cristina Campos, María Gallego, Pedro Villanueva, Jara Laso, Ana Cláudia Dias, Paula Quinteiro, Sara Oliveira, Jaume Albertí, Pere Fullana-i-Palmer, Lela Mélon, Ilija Sazdovski, Mercè Roca, Ramón Xifré, María Margallo, Rubén Aldaco 

Tourism has grown steadily in recent decades, becoming a strategic sector for the economy in many countries. However, the environmental impacts associated with tourism have also experienced an upward trend. In this sense, innovation is needed in the tourism sector, to move towards new models and strategies that integrate environmental sustainability with the social aspects of the sector. In this study, a holistic assessment of the environmental impact of tourism has been carried out using the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) method, considering all stages of tourism activity: transportation from the place of origin to destination and back, accommodation, catering, and activities conducted. For this purpose, a case study has been carried out based on a typical trip made from Madrid to Rías Baixas (Galicia), considering a four-night stay and the performance of two activities (music festival and cultural museum) at the destination. Two alternative transportation scenarios (train or plane) have been defined to analyze the influence of the type of transportation on the overall impact. Other touristic activities such as visiting gardens or thermal baths instead of visiting a cultural museum or attending a music festival have been analyzed and it has been found that the thermal baths and the museum have the greatest environmental impacts.

Transportation was the biggest contributor to most of the environmental impacts in the selected categories. On the other hand, the stay at the destination has stood out due to the impact of the consumption of food and energy used at the accommodation facility. The impact of the activities conducted at the destination is also worth highlighting. Finally, alternative scenarios for transportation have shown that the mode of transportation selected is key for lowering the overall environmental impact of the stay at the destination, highlighting the public transportation alternative, such as the train, as the most environmentally friendly option.

Cristina Campos, Jara Laso, Jorge Cristóbal, Jaume Albertí, Alba Bala, Pere Fullana-i-Palmer, Maria Margallo, Rubén Aldaco

Resum

From an economic point of view, the tourism sector is one of the most important in the world with religious tourism, such as pilgrimages, being a growth area. Tourism activities also make a significant contribution to CO2  emissions (roughly 8% of the world’s carbon emissions). In this framework, the main objective of this research is to develop an integrated sustainable model by assessing the impact of pilgrimages to the Camino Lebaniego  (Lebaniego Way) in the Cantabrian region, which is one of the most popular routes in northern Spain. To do this, it is necessary to quantify the environmental impacts of this activity since this is a key element in establishing appropriate and effective environmental management programmes. This study uses the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) method, focused on the Carbon Footprint (CF) impact category, to assess the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of this activity considering ‘a pilgrim who completes the route in three days’ as the selected functional unit  (FU). In addition, the sub-sectors of accommodation, food and beverages, and waste management are taken into account. Following this route generated a total of 13.69 kg CO2 eq./FU, of which accommodation and the services offered there contributed almost 71.47%, food was 17.08%, and waste management 11.45%. The evening meal and propane consumption were the hotspots in the hostel, accounting for almost 74% of the total impact, so alternatives were proposed to reduce the impacts associated with these. In terms of transport, it was found that for the same destination, it was better to use a car rather than a plane, because the associated CO2 emissions were lower. Finally, these aspects are discussed and improvement measures for reducing GHG emissions are proposed, involving the introduction of good practices and environmental commitments from the pilgrims themselves, as well as enterprises and local communities. Ecolabels and environmental certifications should become a key tool for sending this signal to the market as should the use of public transport to the destination, among other actions. Ultimately, religious and nature tourism seems to be on the upturn, and it is likely that pilgrimage routes could be the next post-COVID travel trend.   

Cristina Campos, Jara Laso, Jorge Cristóbal, Pere Fullana-i-Palmer, Jaume Albertí, Margalida Fullana, Ángel Herrero, Maria Margallo, Rubén Aldaco

Abstract

Sustainable tourism should be promoted as a new system for the sustainable management of resources from a socio economic and environmental point of view. For this purpose, it is necessary to develop a tool capable of assessing  the impacts associated with the sector and to identify which actions are currently being addressed in order to achieve the desired sustainability. This timely study aims to describe the current framework of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and its application  to the tourism sector. To address these questions, a total of 83 documents (77 reviews and 6 international reports) were evaluated, assessing the geographical distribution, the temporal evolution of the publications, as well as the most relevant characteristics of the tourism industry articles were evaluated such as, life cycle inventory (LCI), system boundaries, functional unit (FU), methods, environmental indicators and impact categories considered. The study identifies key recommendations on the progression of LCA in tourism sector. As important results, it stands out that 94 % of articles were from the last decade and 21 % of the articles reviewed cover sustainable tourism term, considering the three dimensions. This review showed that in LCA studies the most common method was CML 2001; the most widely used environmental indicator was the Carbon Footprint (CF) and the Global Warming Potential (GWP) was the impact category used in all the studies. Hence, LCA is a highly effective tool capable of assessing direct and indirect carbon emissions in tourism as well as the socioeconomic and environmental impacts generated in this sector.

Cristina Campos, Ana Claudia Dias, Paula Quinteiro, David Gutiérrez, Pedro Villanueva-Rey Maria Gallego, Sara Oliveira, Jara Laso, Jaume Albertí, Alba Bala, Pere Fullana-i-Palmer, Lela Melón, Ilija Sazdovski, Mercè Roca, Ramón Xifré, Maria Margallo, Rubén Aldaco

Abstract

The tourism industry, affected by COVID-19, must reduce greenhouse gas emissions. This study evaluated the environmental impact of three hotels in coastal and mountainous regions of Spain and Portugal using Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). Data was gathered via surveys in the Greentour tool. Results indicate that the 2-star hotel (focused on cultural-urban tourism) has the highest impacts in most categories, except for CC, FRD, and POF indicators. The 3-star hotel (beach tourism) contributes the most to CC and FRD indicators, while the hostel (nature-religious tourism) has the highest value in the POF indicator. LCA findings reveal that diesel con sumption in the hostel and electricity usage in both the 2-star and 3-star hotels are major contributors to environmental impacts across various categories. Overall, evidence suggests that fossil fuel and electricity usage significantly affect tourism activities environmentally. Interestingly, this study highlights that a 2-star hotel can have a higher carbon footprint (CC indicator) compared to a 3-star hotel, challenging the notion that higher star ratings imply lower environmental impact.