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Canary in the coalmine: Norwegian attitudes towards climate change and extreme long-haul air travel to Aotearoa/New Zealand

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  • Higham, James E.S.
  • Cohen, Scott A.

Abstract

Accelerating global climate change poses considerable challenges to all societies and economies. The European Union now targets a 20% reduction in CO2 emissions by 2020. Indeed, the Labour-led Norwegian government is committed to carbon neutrality across all sectors of the economy by 2030. Aviation has been identified as a rapidly growing contributor to CO2 emissions. This article reports on a research project that explored Norwegian attitudes towards climate change, particularly as they relate to extreme long-haul air travel to Aotearoa/New Zealand. It reveals that the ‘dream trip’ to New Zealand for Norwegians is still largely intact. It also finds evidence of ‘air travel with a carbon conscience’ arising from growing concern for high frequency discretionary air travel. Evidence of denial of the climate impact of air travel that recent studies have revealed was largely absent. Interviewees expressed a greater concern for short-haul air travel emissions than for the climate impact of long-haul travel. However, intentions to adapt long-haul travel behaviours were expressed, highlighting the need to monitor consumer attitudes towards the impact of air travel on climate change. We conclude that Norway is a vanguard European tourism market in terms of climate sensitivity.

Suggested Citation

  • Higham, James E.S. & Cohen, Scott A., 2011. "Canary in the coalmine: Norwegian attitudes towards climate change and extreme long-haul air travel to Aotearoa/New Zealand," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 32(1), pages 98-105.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:touman:v:32:y:2011:i:1:p:98-105
    DOI: 10.1016/j.tourman.2010.04.005
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    Cited by:

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    2. Carmelo J. León & Jorge E. Araña & Matías González & Javier de León, 2014. "Tourists' Evaluation of Climate Change Risks in the Canary Islands: A Heterogeneous Response Modelling Approach," Tourism Economics, , vol. 20(4), pages 849-868, August.
    3. Tazim Jamal & Brian Smith, 2017. "Tourism Pedagogy and Visitor Responsibilities in Destinations of Local-Global Significance: Climate Change and Social-Political Action," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(6), pages 1-27, June.
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    5. Robert Steiger & O. Cenk Demiroglu & Marc Pons & Emmanuel Salim, 2023. "Climate and carbon risk of tourism in Europe," Post-Print halshs-03932019, HAL.
    6. Young, Martin & Higham, James E.S. & Reis, Arianne C., 2014. "‘Up in the air’: A conceptual critique of flying addiction," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 51-64.
    7. Wang, Xuhui & Xi, Haonan, 2023. "Carbon mitigation policy and international tourism. Does the European Union Emissions Trading System hit international tourism from member states?," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 103(C).
    8. Horng, Jeou-Shyan & Hu, Meng-Lei (Monica) & Teng, Chih-Ching (Chris) & Hsiao, Han-Liang & Liu, Chih-Hsing (Sam), 2013. "Development and validation of the low-carbon literacy scale among practitioners in the Taiwanese tourism industry," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 35(C), pages 255-262.
    9. Meng-Lei Monica Hu & Yu-Hsi Yuan, 2020. "Constructing the Assessment Scale of Youth’s Restaurant Entrepreneurship Competency: The Case of Taiwan," SAGE Open, , vol. 10(1), pages 21582440199, January.
    10. Nilsen, Heidi Rapp & Ellingsen, May-Britt, 2015. "The power of environmental indifference. A critical discourse analysis of a collaboration of tourism firms," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 109(C), pages 26-33.

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