تأثیر گردشگری بر آلودگی محیط زیست: شواهد بیشتر از مالزی، سنگاپور و تایلند Effect of tourism on environmental pollution: Further evidence from Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand

Introduction Tourism contributes enormously towards the economic development of host countries. Globally, many developing countries rely largely on tourists’ spending which accounts for significant contribution to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of those countries. According to Ashley et al. (2007) tourism contributes almost 40% of GDP in developing economies and approximately 70% of GDP in case of very small island economies. However, with reference to developed and more diversified economies, tourism accounts for 2% to 12% share in GDP. Moreover, according to most recent report by World Tourism and Travel Council (WTTC) approximately 1.2 billion tourists travelled internationally in 2015; thus, tourism industry contributed US$ 7.2 trillion i.e. 9.8% of world’s GDP and generated 284 million jobs i.e. 9.5% of total employment opportunities globally (WTTC, 2016a). These figures reflect the substantial role of tourism in global economy. Tourism influences the economy of host countries in multiple ways; through employment generation, infrastructure establishment, tourism-related value chain development and through other socio-economic impacts on the lives of domestic population Tang & Abosedra, 2014; Tang & Tan, 2013; Apergis & Tang, 2013; Ashley et al., 2007). However, the other side of the picture is quite dismal and gloomy. On one hand, tourism industry serves as a catalyst for economic growth of tourism led economies; whereas, the flip side of coin illustrates that there are numerous hazardous effects of rapidly increasing tourism. Some of those hazards are economic (uneven development, income inequality, geopolitical risks, rising costs of materials); whereas, others are environmental (extreme weather conditions and climate change, emission of greenhouse gases, water and other ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT 3 resources scarcity, excess consumption of energy) and social (child labour and forced labour, human trafficking and sex tourism, culture and heritage protection) in nature (Mowforth& Munt, 2016; WTTC, 2015). It is immensely apprehended that positive aspects of tourism would be overshadowed by the aforementioned negative aspects if serious efforts are not made towards promoting socio-economically viable and environmentally sustainable tourism worldwide. Tourism has been attributed as an environmentally damaging industry on account of the greenhouse gas discharges related with tourist mobility (Highamet al., (2016). Wang et al. (2018) expounds that being one of the key CO2 emitter, industrial sector has drawn substantial attention of the global community regarding efficient energy usage and CO2 reduction policies.