Eco-friendly technologies, international tourism and carbon emissions: Evidence from the most visited countries

Abstract

The paper aims to examine the effects of international tourism on carbon emissions in the most visited countries using panel quantile regression for the periods 1995-2018. Since the primary source of carbon emissions from international tourism is transportation, we examine the moderating effect of eco-friendly innovations on the transportation sector for the relationship between international tourism and carbon emissions. Empirical results show that while international tourism led to an increase in carbon emissions between the fifth and ninth quantiles of carbon emissions, eco-friendly innovations for the transportation sector play an essential role in the effect of international tourism on carbon emissions. We find that the impact of improvements in eco-friendly technologies for transportation is significant on carbon emissions at all quantiles and that it eliminates the harmful effect of international tourism on environmental quality. These results are important for policy-makers to reduce carbon emissions from tourism because these countries have committed to reducing their carbon emissions according to the Paris Accord and the Sustainable Development Goals.