International Business School, Shandong Jiaotong University,
Weihai, Shandong, China
Guest Editors
Jinhua Chu
International Business School, Shandong Jiaotong University,
Weihai, Shandong, China
Guo-Sheng Han
Department of Tourism Management, Shandong University,
Weihai, Shandong, China
An-Jin Shie
School of Economics and Management, Huaiyin Normal University,
Huaian, Jiangsu, China
Xiao-Guang Yue
Rattanakosin International College of Creative Entrepreneurship, Rajamangala University of Technologynational College of Creative Entrepreneurship, Rajamangala University of Technology,
Rattanakosin, Nakhon Pathom, Thailand
Kuan-Yang Chen
Rattanakosin International College of Creative Entrepreneurship, Rajamangala University of Technology,
Taipei, Taiwan
Xiaowei Jin
International Business School, Shandong Jiaotong University,
Weihai, Shandong, China
Asif Khan
Department of Tourism and Hospitality, Hazara University,
Mansehra, Khyber Pukhtunkhwa, Pakistan
Goddey Paul
Research Centre, Accra Technical University,
Accra, Ghana
Introduction
In the past decades, low-carbon travel (LCT) has emerged as a topic of interest for the tourism industry and academia. Studies have offered reasons that tourists may engage in LCT. Carbon dioxide emissions resulting from travel and tourism activities account for 5%–14% of the world’s total carbon dioxide emissions (World Tourism Organization & United Nations Environment Programme, 2008) and are rising at a rate of 3.2% per year (Peeters & Dubois, 2011). Transportation (e.g., aircraft, cars, and boats), accommodation, and tourism activities represent the primary means by which tourism consumes energy and produces carbon emissions (Simpson, Gossling, Scott, Hall, & Gladin, 2008; Horng, Hu, Teng, & Lin, 2014). Sustrans (2007) and Simpson et al. (2008) have asserted that the rise in carbon emissions could be slowed if tourists consumed less energy and reduced their carbon emissions. Most tourists recognize the benefits of low-carbon activities but are reluctant to plan LCT activities (McKercher et al., 2010). Thus, promoting low-carbon travel (LCT) has become a topic of interest to the tourism industry and academic circles in the past ten to twenty years. This special issue therefore would like to identify low-carbon hospitality and tourism related studies from theoretical perspective to add academic contributions.