That was the stark warning from The Travel Foundation’s head of strategic partnerships, Graeme Jackson, who spoke during a panel discussion at Spain’s inaugural Sustainability Day on Wednesday (26 April).
He said if business "continues as usual" for the tourism sector, it will not achieve its 2050 decarbonisation target.
"We need massive innovation, investment and policy to achieve this," he told delegates. "We are already overshooting that first deadline of 2050 and, at the moment, there is no pathway to that goal.
"We need to be thinking differently about, and adapting, what we do. We need to encourage investment in the type of infrastructure that gets people to the destinations, and around the destinations, in a sustainable way.”
Despite further investment, policy and innovation in sustainability posing a challenge, Jackson believes the industry can achieve the extra support with additional inter-sector collaboration.
"If we combine everything we have at our disposal, we don’t get close to those goals we have as a sector, which is why we need extra innovation," he warned.
"If tourism can act as a catalyst to accelerate the use of these new technologies, we will get closer to hitting these goals."
Jackson was joined on the panel by Abta director of industry relations Susan Deer and marketing executive for the Costa del Sol Natalia Boveda.
Deer said Abta is continuing to focus on individual members’ businesses and how the organisation can support them in their sustainability journeys.
"There’s a lot of guidance out there, specifically for agents, as it can be overwhelming for small agencies as they can’t see how they can play a part in all of this," she said.
"They have no direct control over emissions, but they can still make choices about which suppliers they use and how they communicate with consumers."
Breaking down sustainability "jargon", Deer said, will be crucial to helping agents sell more sustainable trips.
Meanwhile, Boveda detailed how the Costa del Sol is compensating the carbon footprint of all visitors and globally promoting local products to improve the livelihoods of local communities.
