Travel sector’s water footprint 0.6pc of the global total

The water footprint of the travel & tourism sector just 0.6 per cent of the global water use according to the latest figures (2021), said the Director of Sustainability at the World travel & tourism Council (WTTC).

Chris Imbsen was speaking at the UN headquarters at the UN 2023 Water Conference during the launch of groundbreaking new data by WTTC Saudi-based Sustainable Tourism Global Center detailing the total water usage of the global travel & tourism sector.

In 2019, when the sector was at its peak, the sector’s total water footprint was only 50 per cent higher, but still less than 1 per cent of the global total at 0.9 per cent. Travel & tourism’s direct water use is significantly lower – in 2019 it was 0.2 per cent of the global total and has fallen by half to just 0.1 per cent of the global total.

Much of the sector’s water use is indirect, through its supply chain, with agriculture and food production accounting for two-thirds of travel & tourism’s entire water footprint.

Between 2010 and 2019, the travel & tourism sector in Europe and Africa reduced direct water use. In Europe, direct water use fell by 8 per cent and in Africa direct water use by the sector fell by 6 per cent.

Julia Simpson, WTTC President & CEO, said: “This ground-breaking new data reveals our sector’s water consumption for the first time ever, revealing that travel & tourism uses less than 1 per cent of the water used around the world, with the overwhelming majority of that usage coming from the sector’s supply chain.

“The data also shows that whilst the sector has grown economically around the world, its direct-use water intensity has decreased.

“The data is the most in depth study of the sector’s water use, and like the world-first climate footprint data we released at our Global Summit in Riyadh last year, we can also re-veal individual countries travel & tourism sector’s water footprints. This will enable governments to work with the sector to further reduce water usage.”
 
Water intensity
The water intensity of travel & tourism per unit of GDP has also fallen since 2010, across both direct and indirect use.

In 2010, the sector used 0.57 cu m of water for every $1 contributed to the global economy. In 2019 this fell by 19 per cent to reach 0.46 cu m of water for every $1 contributed to the global economy.

In a world-first, this comprehensive research covers 185 countries across all regions and will be updated each year with revised figures. This research was made possible thanks to the partnership between WTTC and the Saudi-based Sustainable Tourism Global Center. Under the Saudi green Initiative, more than 60 initiatives have been launched in the past year, representing more than $186 billion of investment in the green economy.