Tourism Management 70 (2019) 491–504

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Carbon footprint of tourism in Barcelona T

a a,b c c c
Anna Rico , Julia Martínez-Blanco , Marc Montlleó , Gustavo Rodríguez , Nuno Tavares ,
Albert Ariasd, Jordi Oliver-Solàa,b,∗
a
Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals (ICTA), Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), Campus UAB, 08193, Bellaterra, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain
b
Inèdit, Inèdit Innovació, S.L. UAB Research Park, Eureka Building, 08193, Bellaterra, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain
c
Barcelona Regional – Urban Development Agency, Carrer 60, 25-27, Edifici Z. 2a planta, Sector A. Zona Franca, 08040, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain
d
Barcelona City Council, Carrer Llacuna 162, 08018, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain

ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT

Keywords: This study evaluates the carbon footprint (CF) of Barcelona tourist activity taking into account the above 30
Carbon dioxide emissions million visitors who visit the city every year. This study analyzes the main sources of emissions considering
Energy direct (Scope 1) and indirect emissions (Scope 2 and 3) as a consequence of energy use. This research has been
Sustainable tourism carried out in close collaboration with Barcelona City Council and in the context of the new Strategic Tourism
Air transport
Plan for Barcelona city. The impacts of arrival and departure transport, accommodation, leisure and professional
Greenhouse gas
activities and Intra-urban transport from Barcelona city were all included. The total CF of Barcelona tourist
City level
activity is about 9.6MtCO2eq/year, which represents an emission of 96.9 kg CO2eq/visitor·day. The main source
of emissions is arrival and departure transport (95.6%), and particularly aviation. These results show that if
substantial reductions in CO2 emissions are to be achieved, initiatives strategically focused on transport and also
accommodation are necessary.

1. Introduction 2013, tourism's global carbon footprint has increased from 3.9 to 4.5 Gt
CO2 eq, four times more than previously estimated, accounting for
In the 2003 Djerba Declaration, the World Tourism Organization about 8% of global greenhouse gas emissions. That emissions may be
(WTO) recognized the bi-directional relationship between tourism and higher, up to 14%, if we include radiative forcing, i.e. the warming
climate change. On the one hand, climate change has an impact on caused by CO2 and other greenhouse gases emitted by planes in the
tourist destinations and tourist flows. On the other hand, tourism is a stratosphere (WTO, WMO, & UNEP, 2008).
major contributor to climate change mainly due to the use of fossil fuels To understand the magnitude of these numbers it should be noted
that leads to the emission of greenhouse gases (GHG). Currently, the that if we compare national carbon emissions with tourism emissions,
tourism industry accounts for more than 9% of global GDP (UNWTO, tourism would be the 5th largest polluter worldwide. In addition, by
2015). 2035, emissions from tourism in absolute terms are expected to be more
than double that of 2005. Most of this growth is associated with in-
1.1. The importance of tourism on global greenhouse gas emissions creased air traffic (WTO, WMO, & UNEP, 2008). In this context, the
distance to the destination and the choice of transport for getting there
Tourism is a collection of social and economic activities with high and back are the most important decisions.
energy and carbon intensity and in expansion, for those reasons its ef-
fect on climate change is expected to grow considerably in the future. 1.2. Main contributing touristic activities
That is why international organizations such as the UN World Tourism
Organization (UNWTO), the United Nations Environment Program Long distance trips by plane amount globally for less than 3% of all
(UNEP) and the Organization for Economic Co-operation and trips but they cause 70% of the harmful emissions connected to tourism
Development (OECD) are already studying the impact of tourism on (Grimm, Beer, Günther, & Weerts, 2008). According to UNWTO, an
climate change. average holiday trip (considering that in average a tourist trip, which
According to a recent study (Lenzen et al., 2018), between 2009 and includes international and a big share of domestic touristic trips, lasts

∗
Corresponding author. Inèdit, Inèdit Innovació, S.L. UAB Research Park, Eureka Building, 08193, Bellaterra, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain.
E-mail address: jordi@[Link] (J. Oliver-Solà).

[Link]
Received 30 March 2018; Received in revised form 20 September 2018; Accepted 20 September 2018
Available online 28 September 2018
0261-5177/ © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
A. Rico et al. Tourism Management 70 (2019) 491–504

4.15 days) causes 0.25 tons of CO2 eq per person. In general terms, high concentration of tourists causes considerable
The contribution of tourism to GHG emissions is particularly sig- environmental deterioration, increased energy and water consumption,
nificant for those destinations where tourists overwhelmingly arrive by as well as waste generation. To supply the tourist areas it is necessary to
air (Dwyer, Forsyth, Spurr, & Hoque, 2010). Gössling (2013) reports create additional infrastructure and services in a limited area and with
that in the Caribbean islands, the share of emissions related to air travel limited resources (Kreag, 2001, pp. 1–20). Most tourism-related activ-
was between 44% and 70% of total emissions across the region. On ities require direct energy use in the form of fossil fuels (such as pet-
Haiku City in China, for example, it was found that transportation CO2 roleum, coal or gas), or indirectly, in the form of electricity often
emissions of airplane travel was 88% of total city tourism transporta- generated from precisely these same fossil fuels.
tion and it represented 24% of the city's total emissions (Pu & Mi, To minimize the emissions effect, cities have a possible path of
2016). Another study about the energy flows of tourism in Menorca development in building a tourist offer based on sustainable, en-
Island shows that air travel contributes the most (77%) to total emis- vironmentally friendly and responsible tourism (Maćkiewicz &
sions (Sanyé-Mengual et al., 2014). Konecka-Szydłowska, 2017). Urban green tourism (eco-tourism) is also
Filimonau, Dickinson, and Robbins (2014) conducted a study about a response to that need, as it was emphasized by the participants of the
the carbon impact of short-haul tourism and they support the idea that 3rd Global Summit on City Tourism (held in Barcelona in December
transportation generates the largest carbon footprint, showing that the 2014 and promoted by UNWTO), to make a city enjoyable to all, i.e.
most significant carbon savings can be achieved by switching from air residents, tourists and investors, and to spread the benefits of urban
and car-based travel to train and coach journeys. Peeters and Schouten tourism to its surroundings, thus reinforcing its impact and managing
(2006) worked on the ecological footprint of inbound tourism and congestion.
transport to Amsterdam, and they conclude that the main part of the
environmental pressure of inbound tourism originates from transport 1.4. The case study of Barcelona: a big touristic spot
(70%) and accommodation (21%) (Gössling, 2013; Filimonau et al.,
2014). Barcelona tourism is highly influenced by the increasing trend of
Although transport is recognized as the highest contributor, many urban tourism. During the period 2008–2015, Barcelona has experi-
other tourism related activities contribute significantly to tourism GHG enced an increase of 25% in the number of tourists visiting the city
emissions because of their high energy intensity, and particularly ac- (Barcelona City Council, 2015). The last few years have seen a pro-
commodation and leisure activities. When considering tourist accom- liferation of low cost airline companies in Barcelona airport: 70% of
modation there are factors that take place on the same premises such as passengers that flew to Barcelona-El Prat Airport in 2016 did it with
heating, air-conditioning and the maintenance of bars, restaurants, low-cost airlines (Aena, 2017). Barcelona is a clear example of the
pools, laundry and so on that must be taking in to account (Michailidou, European trend toward short city touristic trips, where many tourists
Vlachokostas, Moussiopoulos, & Maleka, 2015). use low-cost airline companies and platforms to rent cheaper accom-
Usually accommodations of higher category present more services modation from particulars. The average length of a stay in Barcelona's
that are closely linked to a larger environmental impact (Accor hotels, tourism accommodation (i.e. hotels, apartments, etc.) is 2.9 overnights
2011). A comparative study realized in a Canary Islands shown that the (Barcelona City Council, 2016a), and Barcelona City Council estimated
higher star-rated hotels have consumption levels and emissions triple that 45% of tourists chose Houses for Tourist Use (HTU) (Duatis,
those of lower star-rated ones, and five times that of the lowest (Díaz Buhigas, & Cruz, 2016). Moreover, Barcelona tourism, similar to other
Pérez et al., 2018). The electricity consumption makes a significant Mediterranean areas, is also influenced by seasonality due to the good
contribution to the environmental profile of five-star hotel categories, climate conditions and the proximity to the coast (Barcelona City
and represents more than 50% of their total greenhouse gas emissions Council, 2015; Sanyé-Mengual et al., 2014).
(Puig et al., 2017). Becken, Frampton, and Simmons (2001), underline With a population of more than 1.6 million inhabitants, (3.3 million
the importance of accommodation as a source of carbon dioxide emis- if the whole Barcelona metropolitan area is considered) Barcelona is
sions. On the other hand, Becken and Simmons (2002) also investigate today one of the world's leading tourist destinations. Barcelona city is a
the consumption patterns of tourist attractions and activities in New major cultural and economic center in South-Western Europe and a
Zealand. Their study explains the importance of leisure activities in growing business center (UNWTO, 2012). It is also a strategic transport
energy use and concludes that visits to tourist attractions, such as hub. As one of the most important ports in Europe it received 749 an-
museums, generally consume less energy than tourist motorized activ- nual cruises carrying 2.5 million passengers in 2014 (Port of Barcelona
ities. & Barcelona Tourism, 2015b). Barcelona's international airport handles
around 40 million passengers per year and the city has an extensive
1.3. The relevant paper of cities on global tourism trends motorway network (Barcelona Tourism et al., 2016). The city has also
become the new high-speed rail link between Spain and France, cur-
Cities concentrate the majority of the world's economic activities; rently the second longest continuous high-speed rail line in the world.
more than 50% of its residents are localized in urban areas thus cities All this contributes to making the tourism sector one of the most
have a vital role to play in the recognition of a Green Economy (Zorpas, important economic generators of the city. It represents around 13% of
Voukkali, & Navarro, 2017). Although a number of studies have been Barcelona GDP (Garriga & Rigall, 2015) and is also connected with
done on the carbon footprint (CF) of tourism in different regions, other key sectors such as transport, hospitality, retail, etc. According to
mostly in countries and islands (Björnsson, 2014; Grimm et al., 2008; the Global destination Cities Index 2016 (Hedrick-Wong & Choog,
Sisman & Associates, 2007), this study is a pioneer because it is one of 2016), Barcelona is ranked as the 12th most visited city in the world in
the first to be carried out calculating the carbon footprint of tourism in 2016 and 4th on the European continent (with 8.2 million international
a city. tourists that stay overnight in hotels), only behind London (19.88M),
Moreover, city trips are the fastest-growing market segment and Paris (18.03M) and Istanbul (11.95M).
have soared by 58% since 2013 to reach a 20% of the holiday market Local authorities estimated that the total number of visitors –
share, with a strong 15% rise in European cities (IPK International & summing tourists that stay overnight and day-trippers - to Barcelona
ITB Academy, 2017). The rise of low cost airlines has also brought in- city throughout the year 2015 was approximately 33 million and that
creased interest in cities and attracting a new type of product: city mainly concentrate in some very specific areas of the city (Barcelona
breaks (UNWTO, 2012). European Cities Marketing (ECM) announced a Tourism et al., 2016). Due to this high volume of tourism, the City
3.6% growth in city tourism in 2016, with the domestic market in- Council has device a Strategic Plan to address and manage the impact
creasing by 6.0% and the international market by 2.3%. that tourism has on the city. In the latest version of Barcelona Strategic

492
A. Rico et al. Tourism Management 70 (2019) 491–504

Tourism Plan, there is the intention to include the environmental vector

taking to account the CF as a decision-making factor. This study was
prepared within this context.
The main objective of this paper is to quantify the carbon footprint
of tourism in Barcelona as a tool to identify the main sources of GHG
emissions and propose mitigation strategies. The study is focused on the
CF analysis of the main tourist activities (arrival and departure trans-
port, accommodation, leisure and professional activities and interurban
transport). Through this analysis we will define which mode of trans-
port, accommodation type or tourist activity has most impact on the CF
of the city. Furthermore, the study makes a distinction between tourists
and day-trippers, to measure the CO2 emissions generated by the two
different profiles. The results obtained from Barcelona are also bench-
marked with other similar studies in cities or regions.

Fig. 1. Distribution of Barcelona visitors.

2. Materials and methods

2.1. Carbon footprint methodology 5 days (Barcelona Tourism et al., 2016), for this reason in this study we
will consider that a tourist trip lasts an average of 5 days.
The framework methodology used in this study is defined by ISO On the other hand, day-trippers are visitors who spend the day
14040:2006 for the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of products, processes visiting the city but without overnight stays in the city. Day-trippers are
and systems. This methodology has been adapted to the tourist phe- difficult to be accounted because there is not any systematic method to
nomena in the city of Barcelona and also takes into account some re- record them. For this reason Barcelona City Council, and according to
commendations from other standards for the calculation of the carbon previous estimations of the institution, uses the hypothesis that the
footprint of cities (GHG Protocol and PAS 2070) and of organizations number of day-trippers is the same as the number of tourists. Three
(ISO 14064-1:2006). types of day-trippers are included in the analysis: Catalonia residents
The most extensive definition of the CF was done by Wiedmann and living outside the Barcelona Metropolitan Region and visiting
Minx (2008), who suggest that CF is “a measure of the exclusive total Barcelona (henceforth, Catalan day-trippers); cruise passengers in
amount of CO2 emissions that is directly and indirectly caused by an transit who visit the city as one of the stops on the cruise (cruise day-
activity or is accumulated over the life stages of a product”. This cal- trippers); and tourists accommodated in other destinations around the
culation framework includes the entire life cycle, i.e. from the obtaining city that visit Barcelona for one day (tourist day-trippers). There is a
of the raw materials needed for the activity or system, including the final category to be considered. This is cruise visitors, i.e. those who
production phases, to the management of the generated waste. CF arrive or depart from the Port of Barcelona on a cruise. They are in-
calculation serves as an assessment tool in terms of GHG emissions and cluded in this study as two main groups: those who visit the city for a
then, it serves to manage and reduce these emissions. After calculating few hours (included as cruise day-trippers) and those who spend at least
the CF, its detailing helps to identify weaknesses - areas of high emis- one night (accounted as tourists). With 2.5 million cruise passengers in
sions that can be eliminated or improved. Thus, carbon footprint is an 2014 Barcelona has become the leading cruise port in Europe and the
indicator of sustainable development (Andreea, Marian, & Dimitriu, Mediterranean and the fourth cruise port worldwide (Port of Barcelona
2013). & Barcelona Tourism, 2015b). Barcelona stands out for its role as
All the greenhouse gases accounted by the Intergovernmental Panel turnaround port (where all the operations for the start and end of the
on Climate Change (IPCC) in a 100-year perspective were taken into cruise take place).
account in the study, using the characterization factors for each gas The study includes the whole life cycle for four tourism activity
recommended in the IPCC reports (2013) (Hartmann, Tank, & categories: Arrival and departure transport, accommodation, leisure
Rusticucci, 2013, pp. 31–39). and professional activities, and intra-urban transport. As some of these
Although some studies point out that the emission of GHG to the activities involve services or infrastructures belonging to the city that
upper layers of the atmosphere has a pronounced effect on climate are also used by local citizens, the study only accounts for the corre-
change, this study does not consider that radiative forcing effect due to sponding part of the impact allocated to tourism. The study focuses on
the uncertainty on the specific multiplier effect. According to several energy flows that are a very relevant environmental aspect of the tourist
sources, values range from 1 to 4.7 (Lee et al., 2009; Grassl, H. & sector, according to previous studies (Gössling, 2013). Therefore, GHG
Brockhagen, D., 2007). emissions from all the stages of the energy production cycle and for
every source of energy (mainly fossil fuels and electricity) are included
2.2. Object and scope of the study for each tourist activity analyzed. It should be noted that energy use of
capital goods is not included due to lack of data. The CF of tourism
The object of study are the activities related to tourism carried out takes into account three scopes: Scope 1, 2 and 3. Scope 1 includes
by approximately 33 million visitors (Barcelona City Council, 2016b) direct emissions inside the borders of the city. Scope 2 accounts the
that Barcelona received in 2015. These visitors are categorized ac- indirect emissions associated with the consumption of electricity. Fi-
cording to the characteristics of their trip as tourists, day-trippers or nally, Scope 3 considers others upstream and downstream indirect
cruise passengers (Fig. 1). This is the first study where these visitors’ emissions (Table 1). This study considers the total amount of GHG
profiles are analyzed separately, calculating the environmental impact emissions directly or indirectly emitted. Direct emissions are emitted
for each one of them. during the tourist activity and inside the municipality of Barcelona.
In this study a visitor is defined as any person not resident in the Indirect emissions are mainly produced outside the limits of the mu-
Barcelona Metropolitan Region (BMR) travelling into the municipality nicipality area, but are a consequence of the tourist activity in Barce-
of Barcelona and staying for less than 28 days, and who is over 15 years lona. The study does not include the direct fugitive emissions associated
old. Tourists are visitors who stay overnight, one night or more, in with HVAC systems because the data are not available.
tourist accommodations or private houses in the city of Barcelona. In a The compilation of data from the tourist sector is a challenge be-
survey of tourists the average duration of a tourist trip was calculated as cause it is not considered as a specific sector in the national accounts

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A. Rico et al. Tourism Management 70 (2019) 491–504

Table 1
Study system boundaries. Scope definition.

and also there are multiple interconnections with other sectors. 3. Inventory
However, in this case the main data sources for the study are statistical
data provided by Barcelona City authorities. A very important one is the According to the considerations and system boundaries presented,
Survey on Tourist Activity in the City of Barcelona 2015 (Barcelona City most relevant data are detailed in the following sub-sections for each
Council, 2016a) that is carried out annually on 6000 Barcelona tourists. category.
In order to establish a characterization of the three typologies of day-
trippers, information of 3 distinct surveys was used. Data of Catalan 3.1. Arrival and departure transport
day-trippers was collected mainly using the Survey of Daily Mobility in
Catalonia 2006 (IERMB, 2007a; IERMB, 2007b) data of tourist day- 3.1.1. Tourists
trippers was collected from the Annual Survey of Characterization of There are 16,466,039 Barcelona tourists and around the 75% of
tourists in Barcelona Province 2015 (Barcelona Provincial Council, them are from the EU and the remaining 25% are long-haul tourists.
2016) and cruise day-trippers data was collected using the Cruise Pas- Their main arrival and departure transport mode is by plane (78%),
sengers Survey 2014 Barcelona (Port of Barcelona and Barcelona City followed far behind by train and by their own car (Table 3).
Council, 2015a). In order to improve the quality of the data available in As the surveys only ask for the origin and the type of transport used
the tourism accommodation sector, Barcelona Tourism, within the to get to Barcelona, the same information is assumed as valid to cal-
framework of the Strategic Tourism Plan, launched in 2016 a survey of culate the departures. The distance from any country to Barcelona is
tourist accommodation in the city (Tourism Directorate, 2017). Data calculated as follows: for aviation, the airport with most transit from
were collected from 53 tourist apartments; 6 Five-Star or Grand-Luxury the country of origin; for train or road transport, from the capital. For
hotels; 31 Four-Star or Four-Star Superior hotels; 13 Three-Star hotels; 7 the tourists who arrive by plane, the profile of the main means of
Two-Star hotels; 7 One-Star hotels; and 21 other accommodations dis- transport used to connect the airport to the city center is: Taxi (35.3%),
tributed between guesthouses and hostels. It is estimated that the ac- Public Transport (33.9%) and Private car (24.2%).
commodation survey has an error of less than 20%. For leisure and Another information gap is related to those tourists that claim to
professional activities, data was collected from our own survey carried visit more than one destination during their trip (apart from Barcelona).
out on 30 tourist attractions with more of 100,000 visitors/year, the six There is no data available on how many other destinations will they
most-used transport services focused specially for tourists and the two visit, nor the length of the total trip. In these cases, it is considered that
main centers of events and congresses. the trip has at least two destinations: Barcelona and a second city or
All the data used in this study is sourced from official reports and place, and the length of the stay is considered the same in both desti-
surveys which have been carried out for and by public organizations nations.
and institutions. Therefore, the analysis is based on the best quality of
information available. For the modeling of the GHG emissions asso- 3.1.2. Day-trippers
ciated to the provision of the tourist services (such as transports, ac- On the other hand, day-trippers distributed in “Catalan day-trip-
comodation, attractions, etc.) through the combustion and production pers” (46.0%), “cruise day-trippers” (7.2%) and “tourists day-trippers”
of each fuel and electricity consumed, specialized databases were used: (46.8%). The allocation of part of the trip has been made taking into
Ecoinvent v3.2 and DEFRA 2015. In Table 2 the considerations and the account the total average duration of the trip, depending on its origin,
data sources for each activity category are summarized. and also considering that the day-trippers are only in Barcelona for one
There are other categories relevant to calculate the impact of day. In the following table (Table 4) the number of day-trippers for each
tourism in the city, such as shops, catering and waste. These are ac- category and their transport distribution is shown:
tivities or services shared by citizens and tourists. The energy use of
these categories were not included in the study for lack of data quality
3.2. Accommodation
which makes it difficult to discern which proportion pertains ex-
clusively to tourist activity. They are relevant but their dependence on
The city has more than 10,000 establishments that offer more than
the tourist sector is not clear. Even so these categories have been
120,000 accommodation places to visitors (Table 5). The study only
evaluated in an approximate way, calculating the energy use generated
takes into account energy consumption of the accommodation analyzed
for Barcelona tourists in these sectors. The information used is from the
in the survey of Barcelona accommodation (Tourism Directorate,
Distribution of tourist spending according to the survey of 2015
2017). Based on the results of the survey, the average value of elec-
(Barcelona City Council, 2016a) and the Energy balance of Barcelona
tricity and gas consumption per year is estimated for each type of ac-
2013 (Barcelona City Council & Barcelona Energy Agency, 2013).
commodation, using the number of overnight stays and unit energy
consumption. Energy use per room day varies considerably depending
on the type of accommodation.

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Table 2
System considerations and data sources.
Categories Sub-Categories Type of visitor Considerations Sources

Arrival & Departure Airplane/Bus/Train/Rental Car/ Tourist It includes the GHG emissions derived from the transport of arrival and (Barcelona City Council, 2016a)
Transport Own Car/Cruise/Others departure of the tourists from their country of residence to the city of
Barcelona. In the case that the tourist arrives by airplane, the transport
from the airport to the city center is also included.
Day-trippers Catalan day-trippers Arrival and departure in their own car, train or coach from their residence (IERMB, 2007b)
to the city of Barcelona. (Barcelona Provincial Council, 2016)
Cruise passengers in Part of the cruise journey is counted and also a part of their arrival by (Port of Barcelona and Barcelona City Council, 2015a)
transit plane to Europe. The approximation of GHG have been realized taking (Port of Barcelona and Barcelona City Council, 2015b)
into account that a cruise trip lasts on average 10,5 days and only one day
have been used to visit Barcelona. The previous stopover to the Port of
Barcelona is also counted if it was in Spain, Italy, France or Mediterranean
Islands. An average distance of 964 km is considered (weighted average
according to the passenger traffic and nautical distances).
Tourists from other For day-trippers who are staying in municipalities near Barcelona, besides (Barcelona Provincial Council, 2016)
destinations transport from their accommodation to the city, part of the journey from

495
their country of origin to Catalonia is considered. The approximation of
GHG has been realized taking into account that a tourist trip lasts on
average 5 days and only one day has been used to visit Barcelona.

Accommodation Hotels/Hostels/Tourist All visitors (Tourist &Day-trippers) Accommodations are basically occupied by tourists. Therefore the (Barcelona City Council & Barcelona Energy Agency,
Apartments/HTUs analysis includes 100% of the GHG emissions related with energy use at 2013)
these establishments. (Barcelona Tourism et al., 2016)
Due to lack of data the consumption of products and amenities have not (Barcelona City Council, 2016d)
been included. (Tourism Directorate, 2017)

Leisure & professional Tourist attractions/Special All visitors (Tourist &Day-trippers) The proportional part of energy use that corresponds to tourism has been Own Survey used for the 30 Tourist attractions, the six
activities tourist transports/Events & calculated for the emissions associated with the use of energy in 29 tourist special tourist transport more used and the two main
Congresses attractions, special tourist transports of the city and also data about the centers of events and congresses.
main events & conferences centers have also been included.

Intra-urban Transport Metro/Taxi/Train/Bus/Own All visitors (Tourist &Day-trippers) The study includes the share of GHG emissions related to fuel and (Barcelona City Council, 2017)
Vehicle/Others electricity consumption from the city's public transport, taxi, private and (Barcelona City Council, 2016a)
rental cars, coaches, etc. (Barcelona City Council & Barcelona Energy Agency, 2013)
(Barcelona City Council, 2016b).
(Barcelona City Council, 2016c)
Tourism Management 70 (2019) 491–504
A. Rico et al. Tourism Management 70 (2019) 491–504

Table 3
Origin and arrival & departure transport mode of Barcelona tourists, 2015.
Distribution per origin Modality of transport (%)

Origin Nº tourists % of tourists Plane Train Private Car Rental Car Private Bus Interurban bus Ferry Ship Cruise Others

Catalonia 186,110 1% 1% 46% 32% 1% 4% 15% 0% 0% 0%

Spain 2,458,953 15% 33% 38% 16% 0% 5% 7% 0% 0% 0%
France 1,616,793 10% 58% 12% 20% 0% 3% 6% 0% 0% 0%
Rest of Europe < 1500 km 5,671,129 34% 92%(*) 2% 2% 0% 1% 1% 0% 0% 0%
Rest of Europe > 1500 km 2,517,147 15% 92%(*) 3% 1% 1% 0% 1% 0% 0% 0%
Africa 299,203 2% 91%(*) 2% 0% 0% 3% 5% 0% 0% 0%
North America 1,468,564 9% 81%(*) 9% 0% 1% 1% 3% 2% 2% 0%
South America 1,229,751 7% 88%(*) 7% 0% 2% 1% 1% 0% 0% 0%
Asia 705,460 4% 91%(*) 6% 0% 0% 0% 1% 0% 0% 0%
Oceania 312,928 2% 78%(*) 11% 2% 3% 0% 2% 1% 4% 0%

Total 16,466,039 100% 78,5% 10,0% 5,6% 0,6% 1,5% 2,8% 0,4% 0,5% 0,2%

(*) For calculations is assumed that the 100% of the tourists take the plane to arrive to Europe and the others percentages of transport modes are from transport used
from intermediates destinations to Barcelona city.

Table 4 Tourism Law (13/2002) for entire flats or houses ceded to third parties,
Number of trippers per category and mode of transport. repeatedly, for less than 31 days and in return for economic compen-
Day-trippers Nº of tourist day- Main transport from residence to accomotadion
sation. Data for the HTU's not registered (i.e. without governmental
category trippers license) are estimated thanks to a study of the City council not pub-
Airplane Own Train Private Bus lished that uses a spider searcher at the main webs for HTU's searching
vehicle and rental (Duatis et al., 2016). One last type of accommodation, fa-
Tourist day- 7,691,434.89 46.6% 42.8% 5.3% 5.3%
mily's or friends' houses, have not been considered in the study because
trippers their consumption could be similar to resident energy consumption and
Spain 2,690,787.87 16.7% 68.2% 7.6% 7.6% it is already accounted as domestic energy consumption in the city re-
Europe 4,173,183.40 55.2% 34.9% 5.0% 5.0% cords (Duatis et al., 2016).
Rest of the 827,463.62 100.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0%
world
3.3. Leisure and professional activities
Catalan Day- 7,576,146 - 85% 4% 11%
trippers The study includes the energy use of the 30 most-visited tourist
(∗)
attractions in 2015, which received more than 100,000 visitors. It also
Cruise day- 1,202,301 16% – – –
trippers
includes the 6 transport services focused specially for tourists in the
city, such as the cable car or tourist buses and boats. In 2015 these 30
TOTAL 16,469,881 – – – – tourist attractions achieved a total of 17.8 million visits and 4.2 million
annual trips in special tourist transports. The data used was collected
(*) % of cruise day-trippers who come to visit Barcelona by transoceanic flight.
from our own survey where we asked specifically about consumption of
electricity, fuel and water, fugitive emissions from air-conditioning,
As shown in Table 5, hotels are those with the highest energy use waste generation, as well as the percentage of tourists among visitors
per unit, compared to the other accommodation options. Four and Five- during 2015, which turned to be around 65%.
Star hotels host 65% of hotels overnight stays and on average use three Finally, with regard to professional activity, data from the main
times more energy than lower category hotels. events and conference centers have also been incorporated. According
HTU or vacation rental are included in the analysis because this is to Barcelona City Council (2016a), in 2015, 656,000 tourists attended
one of the most widely-used hosting options in Barcelona (45% of business events in Barcelona, and there were 2268 business events in
overnight stays). HTU is the legal figure by the Catalan Catalonia the city. Other professional activities (such as meetings with clients,

Table 5
Accommodation capacity and energy use for different accommodation types, 2016. (Tourism Directorate, 2017).
Typology Category Overnight stays Natural gas (kWh/ Electricity (kWh/ Total Energy Use (kWh/ Total Energy Use (kWh/
overnight stay) overnight stay) Overnight stay) room·day)

Hotels 17,589,235 12.7 16.56 29.26 39.5

* 697,927 5.5 6.2 11.7 17.6

** 1,105,197 6.7 5.6 12.3 17.5
*** 4,267,815 8.5 12.9 21.3 28.3
**** 9,305,566 17.4 21.2 38.6 48.1
***** 2,212,731 25.4 36.9 62.4 86.2

Guesthouse 1,299,617 3.3 4.9 8.2 21.1

Tourist apartments 696,318 2.3 8.4 10.7 12.8
Hostels 2,150,825 3.3 4.9 8.2 21.1
HTU's – registered 9,472,357 2.3 8.4 10.7 12.8
HTU's- not registered 8,263,413

Total Barcelona 39,471,766 4.9 8.6 13.41 21.5

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Table 6 consumption of imported electricity (Scope 2) are responsible for 73%

Use of urban transport modes by Barcelona visitors, 2015. of the total impact at destination. The report “Climate Change and
Intra-urban Distribution of Resource Unit Consumption (kWh/ Tourism. Responding to Global Challenges” (WTO, WMO, & UNEP,
transport Visitors Journeys trip·person) 2008) quantifies the average emissions per tourist at a global level as
60.24 kg CO2/person•day, showing the distribution of emissions by
Metro 65.33% Electricity 0.45
categories: arrival and departure transport is responsible for 75% of the
RENFE- Train 3.35% Electricity 3.18
FGC -Train 1.43% Electricity 0.78
total emissions followed by accommodation (21%) and Activities (4%).
Tram 1.31% Electricity 0.23 Although the global average of kg CO2/person•day is 37% lower than
Bus 12.01% Diesel 0.58 the result obtained for Barcelona, the magnitude is similar. The meth-
Natural Gas 0.59 odological differences in the realization of the study may be the cause
Taxi 9.96% Diesel 2.26
of the variations between the results obtained, for example while the
Petrol 0.22
Natural Gas 0.01 WTO considers only the CO2 emissions, the study for the city of Bar-
GLP 0.13 celona includes all GHG gases. In addition, we must take into account
Private Bus 0.81% Diesel 1.17 the high international component of tourism in the city, where 78% of
Private cars 5.35% Diesel 2.63
the arrival and departure journeys are by airplane (Table 3), while
Petrol
Rental cars 0.41% Diesel 2.63
considering the world average, only 17% of the trips are made by air-
Petrol plane. In this line, the average distance considered in a single journey to
arrive to Barcelona (4,857 km for air travel and 832 km non-air travel)
Total 188,372,101 – is higher than the distance considered in the UNWTO study (3,801 km
for air travel and 600 km non-air travel). In addition, the result for
Barcelona is emphasized by the international character of the city and
visits to facilities, administrative tasks, etc.) have not been included due
also because Barcelona is a destination for short duration trips. Other
to lack of data.
studies have shown that the majority of the environmental footprint can
be accounted by travel to and from the destination, with figures ranging
3.4. Intra-urban transport from 59% to 97% (Dolnicar, Laesser, & Matus, 2010; Peeters &
Schouten, 2006).
The majority of visitors travel around the city by public collective
transport (83.43%), being the metro the most-used intra-urban trans- 4.2. Carbon footprint per categories
port (Table 6). Nevertheless, train is the mode of inter-urban transport
with the highest unit consumption, followed by rental and private cars 4.2.1. Arrival and departure transport
and taxi. Based on the data collected by Barcelona City Council and the As seen in Table 8, the main source of emissions are the transport of
different operators of this Intra-urban transport, the total number of arrival and departure, but there are large differences between tourists
journeys made inside the municipal area for each mode of transport, (average of 103.1 kg CO2 eq/visitor•day) and day-trippers (average of
and the energy use derived from these has been estimated. 42.1 kg CO2 eq/visitor•day). With 8,461,728.40 tonnes CO2 eq/year the
transportation of tourists from their origin to Barcelona represents up to
4. Results and discussion 92% of the total transport emissions for all Barcelona visitors, being
aviation the main source of GHG emissions (89,3% of GHG emissions
4.1. Total carbon footprint associated with arrival and departure transport of visitors) (Table 8). In
this case all the emissions generated are from the scope 3.
The results show that the annual GHG emissions associated with Regarding the origin of tourists, European tourists (75% of total
tourism in Barcelona is 9,578,359 tonnes CO2 eq, which represents an tourists according to Table 3) are responsible for 42% of transport
emission of 96.93 kg CO2 eq/visitor•day. The average CF of a tourist is emissions (Table 9). Despite representing only 25% of total tourists,
111.64 kg CO2 eq/day and 43.04 kg CO2 eq/day for a day-tripper. The transoceanic tourists (from America, Asia, Oceania and Africa) are re-
differences observed between the CF of tourists and day-trippers may be sponsible for 58.02% of GHG emissions from transport because of their
due to several reasons: long-haul aviation needs. Indeed, depending on the origin of tourists,
the average emissions for arrival and departure transport can range
• Tourists staying overnight in the city, thus adding accommodation from 19 kg of CO2 eq for a tourist from Catalonia, or 159 kg of CO2 eq
impacts to their footprint. for a tourist from France, to 2162 kg CO2 eq for a tourist from Oceania
• Day-trippers spend only one day in the city, which means that only a (Table 9).
small part of their arrival and departure transport from the area can The international character of tourism in Barcelona should be noted
be allocated to Barcelona. because domestic tourism only accounts for 3.3% of total tourist and
• A significant number of day-trippers are Catalan, i.e. from nearby about the 3% of the emissions associated. Analyzing the arrival and
areas, and have a much lower carbon footprint related to transport. departure transport mode used for tourists, from France and Spain, the
transport modes other than air transport have a significant weight in
A 96.03% of the impact is linked to the life cycle and combustion of the results (Table 3). For both countries, train and own car are transport
the fuel used for the arrival and departure transport (Scope 3). Direct modes that are commonly used (Spain 55%; France 32%), but in the
emissions resulted from the combustion of stationary sources and mo- GHG emissions, they get a lower relative weighting (Spain 36%; France
bile sources (scope 1) and indirect emissions derived from Energy use 20%) in comparison to air transport (average of 66%).
(Scope 2), represent only a 0.95% and 3.02% of the total emissions, Regarding the day-trippers, although they are about 16 million their
respectively (Table 7). relative contribution to GHG emissions is much lower. Transport used
Analyzing the results per category, 95.9% of emissions generated by “Tourist day-trippers” represents 4.2% of the total arrival and de-
are from arrival and departure transport. The activities at destination parture transport, mainly due to transport from origin to the neigh-
represent a 4.1% of total emissions and 3.99 kg CO2 eq/visitor•day. The boring municipality where they stay overnight. On the other hand,
highest contribution to the emissions inside the city comes from ac- “Catalonia day-trippers” contribute to a 2.5%, mainly due to the use of
commodation (3.1%), followed by intra-urban transport (0.7%) and their own vehicle as a mode of transport. Finally, “Cruise day-trippers”
leisure and professional activities (0.3%). The emissions derived from contribute only to 0.9% of arrival and departure transport GHG

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A. Rico et al. Tourism Management 70 (2019) 491–504

Table 7
Distribution of the Carbon footprint of Barcelona Tourism.
Category Total CF (tonnes Relative Average visitor·day Scope 1 (tonnes Scope 2 (tonnes Scope 3 (tonnes CO2
CO2 eq/year) Impact (%) (kg CO2 eq) CO2 eq) CO2 eq) eq)

Activities in Arrival & departure 9,184,457 95.9% 92.9 0.0% 0.0% 100.0%
destination transport
Accommodation 297,891 3.1% 3.0 19.8% 77,5% 2.7%
Leisure and professional 32,148 0.3% 0.3 23.5% 72.3% 4.2%
activities
Intra-urban transport 63,862 0.7% 0.6 38.0% 54.5% 7.4%

TOTAL 9,578,359 100.0% 96.93 90,776 (0.9%) 289,079 (3.0%) 9,198,503 (96.0%)

emissions because they are less in number (Table 8). However, they Table 9
have the largest unitary emissions among the types within the day- Distribution of Arrival and Departure transport CF according to tourist origin.
trippers category (66.1 kg CO2 eq/cruise day-tripper•day). Origin % of Total CF (tones Relative kg CO2 eq/
tourists CO2 eq/year) Impact (%) tourist
4.2.2. Accommodation Catalonia 1% 3505 0.0% 19
Accommodation, with 297,891,485 tonnes CO2 eq/year, is the ac- Spain 15% 278,550 3.3% 113
tivity with highest GHG emissions only taking to account the activities France 10% 257,867 3.0% 159
at destination (75.6%). For accommodation 77.5% of emissions corre- Rest of Europe 34% 1,702,271 20.1% 300
< 1500 km
spond to the scope 2, (i.e. electricity consumption) and 19.8% are direct
Rest of Europe 15% 1,310,150 15.5% 520
emissions due to the combustion of natural gas in stationary sources, > 1500 km
mainly heating boilers (scope 1). Africa 2% 140,983 1.7% 471
Hotels are responsible for 70% of GHG emissions from accom- North America 9% 1,424,164 16.8% 970
modation in Barcelona, followed by HTUs with 25.2% (Table 10). Both South America 7% 1,469,733 17.4% 1195
Asia 4% 1,198,064 14.2% 1698
kinds of accommodation are those that had most overnight stays during Oceania 2% 676,439 8.0% 2162
2015 (Table 4) and with a very similar percentage, around 45% each.
Among hotels, four and five-star hotels are the ones that have more Total 100% 8,461,728 100.0% 514
GHG emissions per overnight stay, representing 85.7% of the emissions
attributed to the hotel sector in Barcelona. In contrast, hostels and
guesthouses are the accommodation options with less GHG emissions significantly lower partly because HTUs accommodation effect de-
per overnight stay, probably because these kinds of accommodations creases the average. Considering that the HTUs is a fairly recent and
are usually smaller, offer less services and guests often share some areas local way of accommodation, Barcelona's average was recalculated in-
and services, thus being more economic options. cluding only the rest of accommodation types: the new value is 11.39 kg
According to WTO, WMO, & UNEP (2008) report, global average CO2 eq/overnight stay, closer to the world average. The result obtained
emissions per overnight stay are 15.6 kg CO2, considering hotels, is similar to the average of 19 kg CO2 eq/overnight stay of Spanish
apartments, rural lodges and campings. It is observed that the Barce- coastland hotel study (Puig et al., 2017). On the other hand, a report by
lona average GHG emissions are 7.5 kg CO2 bed night, therefore the Accor hotel chain (Accor hotels, 2011) for the year 2010 shows that
result in Barcelona are half of the global average. This result is overnight stay energy use was 98.3 kWh in Sofitel five-star hotels,

Table 8
Distribution of Departure and Arrival Transport Carbon footprint.
Visitors Types Total CF (tones CO2 eq/year) kg CO2 eq/visitor kg CO2 eq/visitor·day

Tourist Trip from origin 8,461,728.40 513,7 102,75

Airplane 97% 605.7 121.15
Train - High-speed rail 1% 52.9 10.57
Own Vehicle 1% 127.2 25.43
Others 1% 198.8 39.7
City-airport journey 29,907.78 2.8 0.6
Taxi 54% 2.7 0.5
Public Bus 39% 3.3 0.7
Others private transports 8% 2.8 0.6
TOTAL 8,491,636.19 515.6 103.1

Day-trippers Catalonia Day-trippers 225,891.11 29.8 29.8

Own Vehicle 96% 33.6 33.6
Train 1% 6.2 6.2
Private Bus 3% 9.1 9.1
Cruise Day-trippers 79,454.29 66.1 66.1
Cruises 67% 44.1 44.1
Transoceanic flights 33% 135.4 135.4
Tourists Day-trippers 387,475.68 50.4 50.4
From origin to neighboring municipality 85% 42.6 42.6
From neighboring municipality to Barcelona 15% 7.7 7.7
TOTAL 692,821.08 42.1 42.1

Total arrival/departure transport 9,184,457.27 278.8 92.9

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Table 10
Distribution of accommodation carbon footprint.
Type of accommodation Total CF (tones CO2 eq/year) Distribution of impact (%) kg CO2 eq/Overnight stay Scope 1 Scope 2 Scope 3

Hotels 209,914,630 70.5% 11.9 23.3% 73.5% 3.1%

* 2,746,602 1.3% 3.9 25.7% 70.9% 3.4%
** 4,339,291 2.1% 3.9 31.3% 64.4% 4.2%
*** 32,189,199 15.3% 7.5 20.7% 76.5% 2.8%
**** 122,186,485 58.2% 13.1 24.4% 72.3% 3.3%
***** 48,453,052 23.1% 21.9 21.4% 75.7% 2.9%

Guest house 3,725,876 1.2% 2.9 21.1% 76.1% 2.8%

Tourist apartments 2,949,847 1.0% 4.2 10.1% 88.5% 1.4%

Hostels 6,166,208 2.1% 2.9 21.1% 76.1% 2.8%

HTUs registered 40,128,216 13.5% 4.2 10.1% 88.5% 1.4%

not registered 35,006,707 11.7% 4.2

TOTAL Accommodation 297,891,485 100.0% 7.5 19.8% 77.5% 2.7%

71.1 kWh in Pullman five-star hotels, 51.7 kWh in Novotel three or congresses halls (Table 11). Even though, in absolute value tourist at-
four-star hotels, 23.6 kWh in Ibis two or three-star hotels and 13.4 kWh tractions have the highest impact, the unitary impact per visit is higher
in Formula 1 one-star hotels. The same report details that the average in special tourist transport (1.4 kg CO2 eq/trip) and in events and
energy use of the Accor hotels is 600 kWh/m2·year (primary energy) congresses (5.9 kg CO2 eq/participant). That is because the large
while the average consumption in residential buildings in France is number of visitors to tourist attractions significantly reduces its unitary
280 kWh/m2 · year. Compared to the data presented in this study impact (1.7 kg CO2 eq/visit). For events and congresses, it should be
(Table 5), five-star or luxury hotels in Barcelona consumed about noted that in conferences, congresses or trade fairs delegates are
86.2 kWh/room•day in 2016, a value between the kWh of Sofitel and counted only once, regardless of the number of days attending an event
Pullman Five-Star hotels. Comparing the data for one, two, three and or congress. This fact can explain the high value per visit for events and
four-star, it can be seen that the consumption of hotels in Barcelona is congresses subcategory.
quite similar to that reported by Accor. A study by Gösling (2002) about Within tourist attractions, the ones that have the greatest con-
Global environmental consequences of tourism, assumes an average tribution on the CF are museums and collections (55.9%), also pre-
hotel energy use of 36.11 kWh per bed night. Hotels evaluated in Ma- senting the highest impact per visit (Table 11). Although some tourist
jorca and Cyprus (Simmons & Lewis, 2001), other Mediterranean des- attractions (e.g. Sites of architectural interest) have a higher global CO2
tinations like Barcelona, showed an average energy use per overnight emissions because of the higher number of visits, they end up gen-
stays in hotels of 14 kWh in Majorca and 24 kWh in Cyprus. This data erating less GHG emissions per unitary visit than others (e.g. museums
confirms that Barcelona has a similar range of results than accom- and collections). Finally, recreational areas obtain the lowest unitary
modation consumption for other studies, even when compared with impact value of all because there are mainly outdoor spaces with less
global averages the result is a little lower, maybe accentuated by the energy requirements.
mild weather conditions of Barcelona all year round (Gössling, 2002). Regarding the scope distribution (Table 11), in tourist attractions
and tourist events and congresses, electricity consumption (Scope 2)
represents a share of GHG emissions between 83 and 90%. While in the
4.2.3. Leisure and professional activities case of special tourist transports, direct emissions (scope 1) from the
Leisure and professional activities is the category with less impact combustion of diesel are the source of 80% of GHG emissions. In energy
(0.3%) in the total Barcelona CF. 72.3% of GHG emissions are asso- terms, although museums and collections almost double the energy use
ciated to the scope 2 mainly because tourist attractions and events and per visit in comparison than exhibition centers, the results in terms of
congresses have intensive use of electricity. GHG are quite similar. Something similar happens in the energy com-
Within leisure and professional activities, tourist attractions are parison between tourist attractions and special tourist transport, be-
responsible for 68.8% of GHG emissions, followed by special tourist cause special tourist transport have a lower energy requirements per
transports with 19.3% and the rest is attributed to events and

Table 11
Distribution of Carbon Footprint of leisure and professional activities and energy use per visit.
Sub-Category Nº of tourist visits Energy use (kWh/ kg CO2 eq/ Total CF (tones CO2 eq/ Distribution of impact Scope 1 Scope 2 Scope 3
visit) visit year) (%)

Tourist Attractions 16,639,610 4.2 1.7 22,109 68.8% 9.10% 89.6% 1.2%
Museums and Collections 5,294,296 6.3 2.0 10,649 55.9% 91.4% 43.1% 90.9%
Exhibition Centers 628,954 3.8 1.7 1,081 8.4% 7.0% 4.6% 7.0%
Sites of Architectural 10,266,250 1.5 1.0 10,085 33.4% 1.0% 50.8% 1.2%
Interest
Recreational Areas 450,109 1.8 0.6 295 2.3 0.6% 1.4% 0.9%

Special Tourist Transport 4,166,529 0.6 1.4 6,194 19.3% 80.0% 3.8% 16.2%

Events and Congresses 655,882 24.2 5.8 3,844 11.9% 14.70% 83.3% 2.0%

Total 21,462,021 5.53 1.5 32,148 100.0% 23.5% 72.3% 4.2%

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A. Rico et al. Tourism Management 70 (2019) 491–504

visit than tourist attractions, but the emission factor of diesel notably Table 13
increase the unitary impact in the GHG emissions. This is mainly due to Impact of each category in absolute and relative value for Total CF, including
the fact that some museums and collections have contracted renewable shops, restaurants and waste.
energy and also because they use different sources of energy with dif- Activity Total CF (tonnes Relative kg CO2 eq/
ferent environmental performance in the CF calculations. A study about CO2 eq) Impact (%) visitor·day
energy use patterns of tourist attractions and activities in New Zealand
Arrival and departure 9,184,457 93.1% 92.9
(Becken et al., 2001) calculate the energy use for museums and ex-
transport
periences centers such as sporting complexes (2.7 kWh/visit) and large Accommodation 297,891 3.0% 3.0
museums and parks (8.05 kWh/visit). On the other hand, Farreny et al. Leisure activities, events 32,148 0.3% 0.2
(2012) carried out a study about the metabolism of Catalonia cultural & congresses
Intra-urban transports 63,862 0.6% 1.5
services analyzing the energy and water flows in museums, showing
Shops 226,588 2.3% 1.0
higher energy use values for museums (15.7 kWh/visit in average). Restaurant services 4841 0.1% 0.0
Nevertheless, the majority of museums fall within a range of energy Waste 58,879 0.6% 0.6
consumption under 10 kWh/visit (Farreny et al., 2012) and their energy
consumption is associated with emissions that contribute to global TOTAL 9,868,666 100.0% 99.2

warming valued at 2.34 kg of CO2 per visit.

The results obtained in Barcelona have similar magnitudes than the
calculating which part is attributed to tourist activity taking to account
ones showed in previous studies, with an average of 4.2 kWh/visit in
the distribution of tourist and resident expenditure specified in the
tourist attractions and 6.3 kWh/visit in the sub-category of museums
Barcelona survey 2015 (Barcelona City Council, 2016a). For waste, it
and collections. The little differences between the values can be caused
has been assumed that tourists and residents generate the same amount
by the number of tourists received and for the specific energy demand
and composition of waste. Table 13 shows that shops could have a CF
of each tourist attraction.
similar to accommodation, but major changes are not observed when
these categories are added to the study because arrival and departure
4.2.4. Intra-urban transport
transport emissions remain the largest with a wide difference. Never-
Intra-urban transport of visitors in Barcelona emits 63,862 CO2 eq in
theless, an in-depth study would be necessary, collecting and using
a year. In relation to the emission scopes, 54.5% of emissions are from
quality data with the aim of obtaining more reliable results.
scope 2 because they are related to electricity consumption of the metro
and train. 38% are direct emissions (scope 1) associated to the com-
bustion of mostly diesel fuel, gas and others (Table 12). 4.2.6. Comparative with other studies
The Metro is the transport system with the largest proportion In the academic field, there are some CF studies of tourism at na-
emissions (38,53%) because it is the most used mode of transport in the tional and regional or island level, but previous antecedents have not
city (Table 6) but if the emissions per journey and person are taken into been found at the city level. This fact complicates the comparability of
account, then metro is the second lowest (0.20 kg CO2 eq/person per the results obtained but certain tendencies can be identified. Analyzing
trip). Taxi, rental vehicles and private vehicles have a higher con- the comparative results of different regions shown in Table 14, it ap-
tribution per journey and per person than the average of collective pears that previous studies have a similar pattern in the distribution of
transports, because in each journey the emissions are divided by fewer impact in different activity categories. However discrepancies can be
people. On the other hand, RENFE-train has the highest carbon foot- found: for example, the high emissions per trip to Mexico (555.2 kg eq
print per person because it has high energy requirement, and also be- CO2/visitor*day) (Grimm et al., 2008) in comparison to Barcelona re-
cause it is a less popular option than metro in intra-urban displace- sults (103.1 kg eq CO2/visitor*day). The reason for this is that the study
ments. for Mexico only includes the plane transport from Germany and that
notably increases the resulting value. To calculate Barcelona results we
4.2.5. Carbon footprint estimation for other sectors: shopping, restaurant have taken into account the average of total tourist or visitor trips to the
services and waste city, regardless of the origin of the tourist and the mode of transport
During the study, three areas of activity related to tourism were used. It is important to also specify that in Table 14, the comparative
identified: shopping, restaurant services and waste. The lack of quality data used for Barcelona is only for tourists because the other studies do
data for these activities made it impossible to include them in the study. not consider the impact of day-trippers. On the other hand, Menorca
However, their potential contribution to Barcelona GHG emissions from (Sanyé-Mengual et al., 2014) obtained the lower value of daily tourist
tourism has been estimated. GHG emissions for shops and restaurants emissions because accommodation, Activities and intra-urban transport
have been estimated through the calculation of: energy consumption were not included in the study.
related with both sectors by the Energy balance of Barcelona 2013 The study carried out in Iceland (Björnsson, 2014) is the only one
(Barcelona City Council & Barcelona Energy Agency, 2013); and that presents accommodation as the category with less impact, due to

Table 12
Distribution of carbon footprint in urban transport.
Inter- Urban transport Nº of visitors trips CFTotal (tonnes CO2 eq) kg CO2 eq/journey·person Scope 1 Scope 2 Scope 3

Metro 123,081,404 24,610 0.20 0.0% 100.0% 0.0%

RENFE-Train 6,318,925 9029 1.43 0.0% 100.0% 0.0%
FGC-Train 2,702,438 944 0.35 0.0% 100.0% 0.0%
Tram 2,473,397 251 0.10 0.0% 100.0% 0.0%
Bus 22,634,329 6116 0.29 85.2% 0.0% 14.8%
Taxi 18,779,070 14,223 0.76 83.4% 0.0% 16.6%
Rental Vehicle 10,086,132 589 0.76 83.1% 0.0% 16.9%
Private Vehicle 772,643 7580 0.75 82.9% 0.0% 17.1%
Private Bus 1,523,762 520 0.34 83.1% 0.0% 16.9%

Total 63,862 0.34 38.0% 54.5% 7.4%

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A. Rico et al. Tourism Management 70 (2019) 491–504

certain specifications of this case study. The main internal transports for

(Perch-Nielsen, Sesartic, &

tourists in Iceland are rental cars and the activities are mainly related to

Robbins, & Vijay, 2013)

(Filimonau, Dickinson,
(Sanyé-Mengual et al.,

(Farreny et al., 2011)

adventure activities, both are highly dependent on fuel combustion.

(Grimm et al., 2008)

(Grimm et al., 2008)

(WWF - UK, 2002)

Moreover, Iceland has extended forms of accommodation with lower

(Björnsson, 2014)
energy intensity (particularly camping) and low accommodation energy

Stucki, 2010)
consumption is also accentuated by the use of geothermal energy.
This study Geothermal power facilities currently generate 25% of the Iceland total
Source

2014)
electricity production (Orkustofnun, 2015).
Additionally, the results were compared with the carbon footprint of
the annual energy use for Barcelona city (including the domestic sector,

Calculation for UK
commercial services, industry, transport and waste management),
German tourists

Trip is from UK
German tourist
Calculation for

Calculation for
Observations

which is about 6 million tonnes of CO2 eq. The comparison of that

figure with the 9.5 million tones generated by the tourist sector, un-
Average

Average

Average

Average

Average
tourist
derlines the importance of the tourist sector in environmental terms.
According to the Energy balance of Barcelona 2013, from the Energy
Climate Change and Air Quality Plan (PECQ) (Barcelona City Council &
kg CO2/tourist

kg CO2/tourist

kg CO2/tourist

kg CO2/tourist

kg CO2/tourist
tourist * day

tourist * day

Barcelona Energy Agency, 2013) the carbon footprint estimation for a

tourist* day
kg CO2 eq/

kg CO2 eq/

kg CO2 eq/

Barcelona citizien is 5.8 kg CO2 eq/citizen•day on average.

* day

* day

* day

* day

* day
Units

Although the calculation method and the data do not allow a direct
comparison, it shows that the daily carbon footprint for a visitor is one
–
order of magnitude larger than the daily footprint of a resident.
Emissions/tourist

However, the visitors average includes both the activities in destination

and the transportation to the touristic spot. When only the results in
103.12

555.23

490.00

106.52

destination are analyzed, an overnight stay of a tourist in an upper

94.00

66.00

14.60

62.75
* day

category hotel (five stars) can exceed more than 8 times the daily
–

emissions generated by a resident. Nonetheless, the tourism industry

CO2

CO2

CO2

CO2

kg CO2

kg CO2

kg CO2

can take many steps towards becoming a green industry.

kg eq
Units

CO2
kg

kg

kg

kg
eq

eq

eq

5. Mitigation strategies
Emissions per

The results obtained in this study identify the main sources of GHG
7218.00

1222.00
515.60

672.95

277.00

958.71

310.26
627.5

emissions and can be used as a guide to propose strategies that reduce

stay

the carbon footprint of Barcelona related with the tourist activity.

–

Regarding the results, the mitigation efforts have to focus on arrival and
Activities

0.72%

2.29%

4.75%

5.53%

1.66%

2.70%

0.32%

departure transport. Aviation is responsible for 89% of the carbon

footprint of tourism in Barcelona. Notwithstanding the difficulties and
–

lack of competences of local administration for dealing with the op-

Urban/Internal

erations of the aeronautical sector, major efforts are needed to be made

Comparative results of different studies of the impact of tourist emissions around the world.

in this area.
Transport

31.42%

Nowadays all types of aircraft used in civil aviation operate entirely

0.36%

0.24%

7.00%

on kerosene. One ton of kerosene produces 3.1 tons of CO2 as well as

–

water vapor and nitrogen oxide. The aviation industry is responsible for
2.84%

7.45%

2.00%

2–3% of global GHG emissions from human activity (Cames, Graichen,

Food

Siemons, & Cook, 2015). Some airline companies have developed cor-
–

porate environmental strategies with the purpose of reducing their

Accommodation

environmental impact; for example, improving in aircraft technology,

collaborating in social and environmental projects and compensating
12.11%

11.47%

13.40%

10.00%
3.35%

6.75%

6.21%

0.19%

emissions are the most common strategies.

Regarding Barcelona Airport, currently only 6 out of the 15 main
–

airlines with flights from Barcelona Airport offer their customers the
Travel to and from

possibility to offsetting their flight emissions. The two main airline

Carbon Footprint

the destination

companies operating in Barcelona, with more than 50% of passengers,

do not offer the possibility to compensate the emissions generated.
88.13%

75.70%

82.76%

77.83%

66.73%

83.90%

80.00%

Despite the low offer, if 20% of passengers flying on airlines that offer
95.6%

the compensation chose this option 736,701 tonnes of CO2 eq could be

–

offsetted annually.
Local administration could study the viability to apply a discount in
nights/per trip

tourist taxes for those visitors that can prove having offsetted their
Number of

transport emissions. Apart from these voluntary measures, where the

13.00

13.00

11.20

20.00

10.00
5.00

9.00

consumer is in effect paying for the compensation of the CO2 emissions,

Comparative analysis

the airlines could actually internalize the environmental costs of the

damage produced. Bieger and Wittmer (2006), underline the good
practices of some airlines to get involved in the planning and devel-
Place of the

Switzerland
Antarctica
Barcelona

Menorca

opment of tourist destinations, e.g., in advertising initiatives and the

Table 14

Majorca

Algarve
Iceland
Mexico

Cyprus
study

planning of airport access facilities(Bieger & Wittmer, 2006).

Another area of interest is the introduction of alternative aviation

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A. Rico et al. Tourism Management 70 (2019) 491–504

fuels generated from renewable resources, especially biomass. 6. Conclusions

Technology is envisaged to play an increasingly important role in the
mitigation of the carbon footprint attributed to tourism- and leisure- This study calculates the carbon footprint of tourism in Barcelona as
related travel. Within various technological solutions, biofuel is often 9.5 million tonnes CO2eq originating directly or indirectly from the
considered a viable tool to tackle this issue (Pinheiro, Mattos, & activity of 33 million visitors that the city received in 2015. These
Filimonau, 2017). A number of industrial commitments and colla- figures represent an average carbon footprint per visitor of 96.9 kg CO2
borations have emerged to find alternative ways to develop efficient eq/day. This study divides visitors into two categories (tourists – stay
aviation biofuels (Nair & Paulose, 2014). The production of alternative overnight – and day-trippers) and for the first time they are analyzed
aviation fuels from renewable bioresources is a promising technology separately.
which is expected to substitute the petroleum based fuels (Kandaramath The average carbon footprint of a tourist is 111.6 kg CO2 eq/day and
Hari, Yaakob, & Binitha, 2015). 43.0 kg CO2 eq/day for a day-tripper.
A study about transport carbon footprint of Brazilian tourism shows Regarding the sources of GHG emissions, arrival and departure
the important finding signifying the crucial role of biofuel technology in transport has the highest contribution (95.9% of total GHG emissions
reducing the carbon intensity because biofuel driven flights are found to and 92.9 kg CO2 eq/visitor•day). Accommodation, leisure and profes-
generate less GHG emissions than cars powered by the conventional sional activities and intra-urban transport are responsible for only 4%
fuel (Pinheiro et al., 2017). The increasing interest of government and of the carbon footprint of Barcelona visitors.
international organizations can help the scaling up, commercialization This large impact of transport is in line with results obtained by
and supply chain infrastructure to a large extent. Over the past few previous studies. However, it should be highlighted that Barcelona is a
years, some airlines, in collaboration with the aeronautical industry, city that attracts a large volume of international tourists that commonly
have carried out test flights mixing kerosene with second generation make short stays in the city (2–3 days). This profile maximizes the
biofuels. The results of the flight tests have been positive, showing re- impact of arrival and departure transport, thus gaining more weight.
ductions around 20% of GHG emissions. The use of mixed fuel can This study has involved great efforts in data collection, using quality
achieve savings of around 196 tonnes of CO2 eq on a one way flight of sources and carrying out specific surveys to obtain data from tourist
500 km. A recent study led by NASA indicates that by using biofuels jet attractions and tourist accommodations. One important source that has
engines reduce particle emissions in their exhaust by 50–70% been used is the Annual Survey that Barcelona City Council carries out
(Harrington, Barnstorff, & Dambowsky, 2017). In August 2017 the first to tourists visiting Barcelona. It has been detected that some informa-
commercial flight using the world's first renewable, alternative jet fuel tion obtained from this survey could be more specific adding new
made from the remains of logging and thinning from sustainably questions or improving the existing survey questionnaire. The in-
managed forests took off successfully (Washington Forest Protection troduction of these changes could improve the calculations of the
Association, 2017). carbon footprint, obtaining more accurate results in categories such as
On the other hand, the local agency for tourism promotion could waste, restaurants and the retail sector.
focus on the promotion of proximity tourism making short–haul travel Despite being the main contributor to the environmental impact of
more attractive to people who currently prefer long–haul travel, as this tourism (Gössling, 2013), according to the Kyoto Protocol, emissions
is key to reducing airplane mileage and make transport by train or bus from international aviation should not be considered as part of national
attractive for tourists and day-trippers. emissions. And until now, there is not a way to attribute aviation
Finally, regarding transportation from the airport to the city, local emissions to individual economies (Sharp, Grundius, & Heinonen,
administration could promote a shift from car transport to other col- 2016). Therefore, even in countries committed to reducing emissions,
lective modes of transport, such as metro, train or bus. In addition, national mitigation plans do not include measures to reduce these
efforts from the local administration to electrify or hybridize the taxi emissions. In this context, and given its relevance, it is especially im-
fleet would also have a positive impact on the reduction of emissions. portant that countries, municipalities and airlines reach agreements for
Regarding GHG emissions in destination, accommodation is re- accelerating the carbon compensation or the implementation of effi-
sponsible for 75.6% of them. Therefore, the collaboration with ac- cient technologies in the aviation sector.
commodation providers is absolutely necessary. There is room for im- It is also important to influence tourist habits by supplying data and
provement in the entire accommodation sector, especially in the highest information. Small changes, such as travelling to nearby destinations or
hotel categories. The promotion of carbon footprint metrics in the increasing the use of collective modes of transport, can have a positive
tourist accommodations and its subsequent monitoring may be helpful and real effect on the carbon footprint of tourism.
to these establishments to define objectives of reduction. As demon- Finally, if tourist destinations had access to studies on their carbon
strated through various sources and researches, when a hotel increases footprint, this information could be used for managing and promoting
its level of environmental commitment it has a competitive advantage. the tourist offer; i.e. helping destinations to focus their tourism policies
A study about sustainable practices in Greek eco-friendly hotels (Kapiki, towards increasing sustainability and to prioritize their efforts to reduce
2012), highlights some best practices to improve the traveler experi- not only local but also global impact.
ence and the hotel consumption performance: the application of a green
certification program; training and motivation of employees and the
integration of the eco-label in the hotel marketing. Is important is to Author contribution
engage the tourist in the environmental best practices thus enhancing
tourist's value perception about the eco-travel activity (HelenaChiu, Anna Rico has worked on her master thesis on the carbon footprint
Lee, & Chen, 2014). This is the first in a sequence of steps that would of tourism in Barcelona and has led writing of the paper.
strengthen environmentally responsible behavior via increasing the Julia Martínez-Blanco and Jordi Oliver-Solà have led the carbon
ecotourist's activity involvement and satisfaction levels. In addition, footprint assessment of tourism in Barcelona at the request of Barcelona
local authorities could promote and provide support to the tourist ac- City Council as senior consultants and experienced researchers on the
commodations in order to help them to obtain eco-label certifications, field. They both have co-supervised Anna Rico's master thesis.
transit toward 100% renewable electricity supply, and to implement Marc Montlleó, Gustavo Rodríguez, Nuno Tavares and Albert
energy saving and efficiency measures. Arias have provided raw data (tourism data for Barcelona, energy,
mobility and accommodation), a better understanding of Barcelona's
tourism and have reviewed the paper.

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A. Rico et al. Tourism Management 70 (2019) 491–504

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[Link] Gustavo Rodríguez He has a degree in Industrial

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1016/[Link].2017.02.119. and unique urban projects. Nuno Tavares Environmental Engineer at Barcelona Regional,
a public agency for urban planning, mobility and environmental studies. He has a master
in urban planning from the University of Barcelona, and a postdegree in peace studies at
Anna Rico Anna Rico studied environmental science at the the Autonomous University of Barcelona. Now he's working in projects related to green
Autonomous University of Barcelona. In 2010 she lived a spaces, ecological connectivity, urban metabolism and environmental impacts of urban
period in Costa Rica, working in a project about the social tourism. Recently he has being working in the Strategic Plan of Park Güell in Barcelona.
impact in the conservation of Ara ambiguus and publishing
their results in 2013. From 2011, she is working as a
technician in Energy Efficiency and Sustainability in a Nuno Tavares Environmental Engineer at Barcelona
company of services in the tourism sector. During the Regional, a public agency for urban planning, mobility and
period 2016–2017 she combined her work with the studies environmental studies. He has a master in urban planning
of a Master Degree in Interdisciplinary Studies in from the University of Barcelona, and a postdegree in peace
Environmental, Economic and Social Sustainability at the studies at the Autonomous University of Barcelona. Now
Autonomous University of Barcelona. Her main area of in- he's working in projects related to green spaces, ecological
terest is the Industrial and Urban Ecology branch. She connectivity, urban metabolism and environmental impacts
dedicated her minor thesis to work in this study. of urban tourism. Recently he has being working in the
Strategic Plan of Park Güell in Barcelona.

Julia Martínez-Blanco PhD in Environmental Science and

Technology (2012) and Degree in Environmental Sciences
from the Autonomous University of Barcelona. Expert in the
methodology of Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) applied to pro-
ducts and organizations and the ecoinnovation in in-
dustrial, urban and agricultural systems. More than 20 ar- Albert Arias Sans B.A. Geography by the Autonomous
ticles published in indexed journals, several book chapters University of Barcelona. M.A. Urban Management by the
and main author of 2 UNEP reports. Currently, she is Erasmus University of Rotterdam. Since 2004 he has
working in a strategical eco-innovation studio (Inèdit in worked as a consultant, project manager, researcher, and
Barcelona), is external researcher and teacher linked to the teacher in different companyies and universities on urban
Autonomous University of Barcelona the TU Berlin. She is and tourism issues. Active member of the Research Group
also Subject Editor in the International Journal of Life Cycle on Territorial Analysis and Tourism Studies at the
Assessment. Universitat Rovira i Virgili. Working on his dissertation on
the enactment of tourism as a political issue through the
case of Barcelona. He is currently the Head of the Strategic
Plan for Tourism 2020 Barcelona since October 2015.
Marc Montlleó Biologist from the University of Barcelona,
obtained a Masters in Environmental Engineering by the
Catalan Institute of Technology and the Polytechnic
University of Catalonia. In 1999, after a period supervising
construction projects and writing environmental projects as
an environmental technician in an engineering firm, he Jordi Oliver-Solà Holds a PhD in Environmental Sciences
began his career at BR and participated in the drafting and and an extraordinary doctorate award from the
coordination of projects such as the Environmental Impact Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB). Founding
Assessment for the Strategic Plan of the Metropolitan partner and executive director of inèdit, a strategic eco-in-
Region of Barcelona, the process for the final recovery of novation study that offers services to companies and orga-
the Besós river, the project of artificial reefs along the coast nizations to achieve feasible, viable and sustainable solu-
of Barcelona, the basic and executive project for the Marine tions. Expert in life cycle analysis, ecodesign and eco-
Zoo, the environmental guidelines for Vallbona eco-district, innovation, he has participated in numerous projects with
as well as environmental reports on policy changes in the companies and has published more than 30 articles in in-
city of Barcelona. He also has been a member of the environmental follow-up committees ternational SCI / SSCI journals, has made more than 40
of Barcelona Airport, the Llobregat water sewage plant and the moving of the Llobregat contributions in international conferences, 11 book chap-
river. In 2011, he takes the position of Director of Environmental Projects. In parallel, he ters and 1 book on the subject. Guest researcher at the
develops his teaching activity as associate professor at the Productive Land Use Workshop Institute of Environmental Science and Technology (ICTA-
in BIArch, and since 2008, as professor of Master in city Management at the Universitat UAB).
Oberta of Catalunya.

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