Do We Need to Reconsider Our Flying Guilt?

While working on a research paper on climate adaptation in tourism, I had an eye-opening consultation with a Kerala-based social enterprise.

Over a decade of working in local villages, they developed a strong community tourism model that embeds tourism into the existing agrarian routine of farmers, and allows travellers to authentically engage with the community. Since inception, their primary audience has been conscious travellers from Europe, seeking slow travel and meaningful experiences that bring economic and social prosperity to regions of Kerala off the typical tourist trail.

Flying guilt – or flygskam – though, has had unintended consequences. The same conscious travellers, ridden by flying guilt in recent years, have repeatedly cancelled their trips to the region. Their decision to pursue lower footprint travel that doesn’t involve flying has directly impacted community tourism in these parts of Kerala, where tourism revenue beautifully supplemented increasingly unpredictable agricultural incomes.

Is Flying Guilt Productive?

When I first wrapped my head around my personal flying footprint, I thought this guilt will keep me in check – and it does. Instead of jumping on cheap airfares or impulse flight buying, I now think long and hard about the impact of every flight I take.

Tourism is linked to vital wildlife conservation efforts

Even though tourism has had adverse impacts on local ecologies around the world, wildlife conservation models around the world are often linked to tourism.

In Uganda for instance, I was surprised to learn that Bwindi National Park is home to lucrative gold deposits, but the forests and mountain gorillas retain their habitat only because gorilla tourism yields more money. Gorilla permits cost a whopping 800$ per person!

Some island nations depend entirely on tourism – and flying!

The greatest pushback against the flying shame movement comes from Small Island Developing States (SIDS), which includes islands like the Maldives, Mauritius and Seychelles, whose economies are heavily reliant on tourism. The only way for travellers to reach them is by long distance flying.

Sustainable aviation remains a distant dream

The Airbus Summit I recently attended in France came as a reality check that we are FAR from achieving global sustainable aviation goals. SAF (sustainable aviation fuel) is projected to contribute only 4-5% of total jet fuel consumption by 2030, which will likely be offset by air travel growth. Electric and hydrogen powered planes – though promising – are still in their initial R&D phase, with much to be done to get the entire ecosystem technologically and financially ready for take off.