Destinations known‘Flygskam’: what is ‘flight shame’ and should you be feeling it?
- In Sweden, people are swapping planes for trains as a sense of shame spreads among those concerned about climate change
- In China, air travel is expected to grow over the next 15 years, making the need for emission-light flights even more pressing
“Sustainable tourism” might sound like an oxymoron concocted to make woke travellers feel better about their excessive exploits, but the term carries increasing clout as every corner of the globe becomes accessible to a growing population of passport holders.
Unfortunately, the very act of getting to your holiday destination will be environmentally injurious, unless you walk or cycle to reach it, which, in today’s time-poor world, Destinations Known will assume you won’t – and flying is among the worst ways to go.
“Aviation’s emissions are growing fast,” says Justin Francis, chief executive of British activist travel company Responsible Travel, via email. This is particularly true in Asia, where a rising middle class is set on seeing the world. Last year, 15 of the 20 busiest airline routes in the world were within the Asia-Pacific region, according to flight data firm OAG. The hop from Kuala Lumpur to Singapore took first place, 30,187 flights having connected the two cities in 2018, followed closely by the journey from Hong Kong to Taipei, with 28,447 flights.
Not that this is anything to be proud of. On the contrary, flying is becoming a source of self-reproach, at least among the climate concerned. Take Swedish student activist Greta Thunberg, whose refusal to fly has been widely publicised. In January, she took a 32-hour train journey from Stockholm, in Sweden, to Davos, in Switzerland, where she roasted World Economic Forum delegates – there to discuss the environment – for jetting in on private aircraft.
She’s not alone in preferring overland transport. A recent survey conducted by WWF found that 23 per cent of Swedes were opting out of air travel to reduce their impact on the climate, and 18 per cent of those polled had chosen to take a train rather than fly. “Flygskam” (“flight shame”) has taken off on social media across Europe, as has the inversely correlated “tagskryt” (“train bragging”), and the phenomenon is making a difference on the ground. According to a recent Bloomberg report, Swedavia AB, which operates 10 Swedish airports, has seen year-on-year passenger numbers drop for seven consecutive months, while state train operator SJ moved a record 32 million people around the country last year.
China, on the other hand, has plans to build 200 new airports across the country by 2035. Aviation website Simple Flying reports that Chinese airlines will transport 720 million passengers next year, and, if things keep developing as they are, within 15 years, the world’s most populous nation will be responsible for a quarter of all air travel. And who can blame the Chinese for wanting to take to the skies?