Descrizione 1
Giovanni Finocchiaro, Silvia Iaccarino, Francesca Palomba
Tourism is crucial for European economies, but a compromised environment could endager its future, as the main attraction of tourism lies in a clean and preserved environment. This indicator analyzes emissions generated by tourist travel in Italy. Among the various road transport modes, cars contribute the most to all pollutant emissions, with 2022 values ranging from 76.8% for PM2.5 to 95.8% for VOCs. The use of campers, caravans, and vans, on the other hand, mainly affects PM2.5 (19.7%) and NOx emissions (14.3%).
The indicator provides an estimate of emissions produced by tourist travel in Italy using road transport, in terms of major atmospheric pollutants. Although the phenomenon is underestimated, as the mileage considered is based only on the distance between the departure and destination cities, excluding local movements during the stay or stopovers in itinerant trips, this analysis aims to fill a significant knowledge gap in the tourism-environment relationship. The indicator integrates environmental monitoring data (National Air Emissions Inventory) with statistical data on tourism demand (ISTAT’s "Trips and Holidays" survey). Thus, it represents a new analytical approach that combines official sources to enhance information on tourism-related emissions.
To estimate emissions generated by tourist travel in Italy using road transport, focusing on major atmospheric pollutants.
The indicator has no specific regulatory references, but it helps address knowledge gaps in the tourism-environment relationship. It aligns with the Glasgow Declaration on Climate Action in Tourism, presented at COP26 in November 2021.
Descrizione 2
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- Regulation (EU) No 692/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 6 July 2011 concerning European statistics on tourism and repealing Council Directive 95/57/EC. Available online: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2011:192:0017:0032:EN:PDF
- UNWTO, 2010. International Recommendations on tourism statistics 2008 (IRTS 2008), ST/ESA/STAT/SER.M/83/Rev.1, Madrid and New York. Available online: https://unstats.un.org/unsd/publication/Seriesm/SeriesM_83rev1e.pdf
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- Deville, J.C.; Sarndal, C.E. Calibration Estimators in Survey Sampling. J. Am. Stat. Assoc. 1992, 87, 376-382, doi:10.2307/2290268. - ISPRA. Serie Storiche Emissioni – Dati trasporto stradale 1990-2020. Available online: http://www. http://emissioni.sina.isprambiente.it/serie-storiche-emissioni/
- Sabato, M.; Dattilo, B.; Di Torrice, M. Destinazione Italia: turismo e competitivita’ territoriale. Un’analisi regionale della domanda turistica dei residenti. XL Annual Scientific Conference of A. I. S. Re. (Associazione Italiana di Scienze Regionali), L’Aquila, Italy, 16-18 September 2019. Available online: https://www.aisre.it/images/aisre/2019_papers/Sabato-16-16-Sabato-Mariangela.pdf
- United Nations. Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Available online: https://epale.ec.europa.eu/sites/default/files/21252030_agenda_for_sustainable_development_web.pdf - Istat. The SDGs Report. Available online: https://www.istat.it/en/well-being-and-sustainability/sustainable-development-goals/sdgs-report .
- Istat. Nota Metodologica" Indagine Viaggi e vacanze, Istat, anni 2015 e segg; Available online: https://www.istat.it/it/archivio/178695
- Betta, L.; Dattilo, B.; di Bella, E.; Finocchiaro, G.; Iaccarino, S. Tourism and Road Transport Emissions in Italy. Sustainability 2021, 13, 12712. https://doi.org/10.3390/su132212712 - World Tourism Organization (2022), Measuring the Sustainability of Tourism – Learning from Pilots, UNWTO, Madrid, DOI: https://doi.org/10.18111/9789284424061.
- Scott, D., Hall, C. M., & Gössling, S. (2020). Pandemics, tourism and global change: A rapid assessment of COVID-19. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 29(1), 1-20. DOI: 10.1080/09669582.2020.1758708
In order to refine and thereby make the territorial attribution of pollutants more accurate, a possible future development involves a more detailed breakdown of the journey into regional segments, to which the emissions generated along the route between the origin and the destination of the trip can be assigned.
Qualificazione dati
ISTAT – "Trips and Holidays" Survey
ISPRA - "Average road emission factors" https://fetransp.isprambiente.it/#/
National, Regional
2017-2022
Qualificazione indicatore
The indicator combines:
- Kilometric data on tourist trips from the ISTAT "Trips and Holidays" survey
- Emission factors for road transport provided by ISPRA
These two data sources are processed through extensive calculations.
For methodological details, see:
Betta, L.; Dattilo, B.; di Bella, E.; Finocchiaro, G.; Iaccarino, S. Tourism and Road Transport Emissions in Italy. Sustainability 2021, 13, 12712. https://doi.org/10.3390/su132212712
In 2022, cars were the primary contributors to all pollutant emissions, with values ranging from 76.8% for PM2.5 to 95.8% for VOCs (Table 2).
Among other vehicles: Campers, caravans, and vans had a notable impact on PM2.5 (19.7%) and NOx emissions (14.3%).
Between 2021 and 2022, emissions linked to tourist travel increased significantly due to post-pandemic recovery: CO: +11.7%, VOC: +10.5%, NOx: +13.3%, PM2.5: +14.9%, CO2: +14.6% (Table 1)
Compared to 2017 (the first year of observation):
- Emissions increased for all pollutants in 2018 and for most pollutants in 2019.
- In 2020, emissions dropped below 2017 levels due to the pandemic-related lockdown.
- From 2021 onward, a significant rebound in emissions was recorded (Figure 1).
Dati
Tabella 1: Emissioni nazionali stimate
ISPRA
Tabella 2: Emissioni dei viaggi in Italia per tipologia di veicolo utilizzato (tonnellate e percentuale)
ISPRA
Tabella 3: Emissioni prodotte per regione di destinazione (2022)
ISPRA
Tabella 4: Variazione percentuale dal 2021 al 2022 delle emissioni prodotte per regione di destinazione
ISPRA
Figura 1: Crescita percentuale di ogni emissione considerando il 2017 come anno base
ISPRA
Figura 2: Chilometri percorsi e chilometraggio medio per raggiungere le regioni di destinazioni dei viaggi (2022)
Elaborazione ISPRA su dati ISTAT
Figura 3: Emissioni prodotte per regione 2017 - 2022
ISPRA
As highlighted in Table 2, emissions produced in 2022 and 2021 were primarily attributed to "Campers, Caravans, and Vans" and "Cars." At the regional level, emissions were estimated based on the destination regions, considering both interregional and intraregional travel flows, as well as kilometric distances. An analysis of Table 3 and Figure 1 shows that in 2022, the regions with the highest emissions from tourist travel were: Tuscany, Puglia, Lombardy, Emilia-Romagna. However, the ranking varied depending on the specific pollutant analyzed. Regions with the lowest emissions included: Molise, Basilicata, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Umbria.
In 2022, most regions saw a percentage increase in emissions compared to 2021 (Table 4), confirming the resurgence of tourism-related road mobility. Regions with strong mountain tourism recorded a rise in emissions, particularly due to the revival of winter tourism after COVID-19 restrictions. These travel pattern shifts were studied by Scott et al. (2020), who analyzed how lockdowns and reopenings altered tourism behaviors, leading to periodic surges in travel demand. Figure 3 illustrates CO2 emissions in 2017 and 2022. When examining absolute values, nine out of twenty regions showed a positive variation compared to 2017, confirming the growing environmental pressure from tourism-related road transport.