The Future of Tourism: Holidays as Public Luxury
5th August 2025
“Green New Deal” platforms have called for renationalised, revitalised and expanded public services as a means of climate adaptation. Following these, we consider the tourism industry in terms of public infrastructure.
• Globally, tourism contributes around ~8% of carbon emissions, and degrades local ecosystems.
• The absence of democratic oversight helps to encourage poor working conditions and over-tourism.
• Domestic agriculture is similarly at risk, with key crops like wheat, barley, and oilseed rape being affected by extreme weather conditions, including flooding and droughts.
• On the assumption that tourists will bring money into local economies, government interventions have largely been limited to marketing.
• Regions such as the East of England, North West, and South West are projected to face the highest levels of heatwave-induced poverty, with children and working-age adults being the most vulnerable demographic groups.
• Tourism nevertheless relies on public investment and maintenance of infrastructures, common natural resources and local cultures.
• This report outlines policy proposals which would make tourism more sustainable, more democratic and more equally accessible:
• Integrate aviation within a nationalised transport system. Flying is the most carbon intensive form of travel and yet it also benefits the fewest people. Nationalising aviation will allow us to decarbonise at scale, while also democratising access to long and short-haul travel.
• Establish a publicly-owned Eurostar Channel Tunnel train operator to provide an affordable, low-carbon service between London, Paris, Amsterdam, Brussels and beyond.
• Use public ownership to reintroduce and popularise night trains as a means of accessing Europe.
• Introduce a fleet of publicly-owned electric passenger ferries across the English Channel, and within the UK.
• Promote a reduction to the working week. While new time away from work may lead to greater demand for tourism, it will also make ‘slower’ forms of transportation more viable and appealing.
• Allow Local Authorities to establish “tourist taxes”. To share the profits of tourism with local communities, and help tackle over-tourism.
• Municipal and local ownership of tourism and housing. This allows for local economies to profit from tourism activities, while also giving residents and workers the authority to manage the tourism in their locality.
• Common ownership of land and natural resources. This would facilitate new ‘common’ spaces for both tourists and local residents to access nature. It would also make it easier to steward the land, and protect it from over-exploitation.
• A legal ‘right to roam’. Only 8% of England is composed of open access land – with the vast majority of the countryside inaccessible to the public. Many are forced to travel and can only access heavily commodified forms of tourism. A legal ‘right to roam’ would open up the country to more sustainable and local forms of tourism.
Authors
Grace Robinson (Université Clermont Auvergne)
Liam Mullally