The EU’s commissioner for sustainable transport and tourism has warned that the tourism industry is at risk from the direct impacts of climate change.
Apostolos Tzitzikostas said that infrastructure is not keeping pace with the need to adapt to these threats.
Speaking during a panel at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Wednesday, Tzitzikostas pointed to Valencia in Spain, which was devastated by floods in 2024.
“Look at what happened to Valencia. We need to see the issue of sustainable and resilient infrastructure,” Tzitzikostas said.
Over 200 people lost their lives during the flashfloods last October and Valencia’s chamber of commerce estimated that 48,000 companies were affected.
Data from Spain’s National Institute of Statistics revealed a drop in over 35,000 foreign visitors and around 80,000 overnight stays.
An event about travel and tourism at Davos featured Ahmed Al-Khateeb, Minister of Tourism of Saudi Arabia; Apostolos Tzitzikostas, EU Commissioner for Sustainable Transport and Tourism; Edi Rama, Prime Minister of Albania; Jane Sun, Chief Executive Officer, Trip.com, Richard Quest, CNN anchor and Xavier Rossinyol, Global Chief Executive Officer, Avolta AG.
During a wider talk about sustainable tourism, other panelists, including Ahmed Al-Khateeb, Saudi Arabia’s Minister of Tourism for Saudi Arabia, and Edi Rama, the Prime Minister of Albania, spoke about the growth of tourism in their countries.
Al-Khateeb said Saudi Arabia aims to increase tourism’s contribution to GDP from 3% to 10% by 2030.
Rama said that while Albania benefits from seeing the mistakes that other countries have made in tourism development, it doesn’t mean his country will automatically avoid making similar pitfalls.
“It’s not in the human nature to learn from mistakes of others,” he said.
The World Economic Forum projects that the tourism industry will grow by 7% every year over the next decade.
However, emissions from this sector are also projected to rise and tourism could become one of the largest contributors of greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere.
During the panel, Tzitzikostas faced tough questions from CNN anchor Richard Quest, for the European Union’s slow progress on reducing emissions.
The EU has been deliberating a policy that could improve the efficiency of air transport in Europe and cut aviation emissions by up to 15%.
When asked why the EU has not made a decision after 15 years, the commissioner said that the framework for the initiative was recently passed.
“It’s a good step. It’s not enough and I pledge to work a lot towards this goal,” he said. “It will save us time which will save money and don’t forget that today we have very crowded skies and we will have problems if we don’t act.”
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