Degrowth is no response to climate change, say PATA, India as 196 buyers meet 159 sellers in New Delhi
Tourism’s degrowth is not an appropriate response to climate change according to both V Vidyavathi, Secretary of the Ministry of Tourism, Government of India, and Peter Semone, Chair of the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA).
In response to your correspondent’s question at the official media briefing session at PATA Travel Mart 2023, Ms Vidyavathi said that degrowth was not a sustainable strategy.
She explained that it was the Ministry’s intent to grow tourism while promoting more sustainable forms of tourism via its Travel for LiFE initiative. “All for one; one for all.”
Additional Secretary Rakesh Kumar Verma had earlier talked about a target of 100 million international arrivals by 2046, up from the 17.9 million peak prior to COVID.
Mr Semone said that responding to climate change was about balance: That the power of tourism to bring together humans would help alleviate the threat of geopolitical and social unrest; while concepts such as India’s Travel for LiFE would mitigate the negative effects of climate change.
These “existential threats” — climate change and geopolitical and social unrest — have been a running theme in Mr Semone’s public speaking at PATA Travel Mart 2023.
