Bangkok--15 Oct--eTurboNews Experts in the UK believe that consumers exaggerate aircraft carbon dioxide emission to a degree. According to research undertaken by Nunwood with a representative sample of 1,000 UK consumers who have travelled abroad for a holiday in the last two years, despite the much-publicised debate about carbon and the impact of flying, consumers actually think that aircraft cause far more carbon dioxide emissions than they do. Carbon dioxide emissions due to aircraft (both freight and leisure) make up around five per cent of the UK's emissions and just one-two per cent of global emissions, according to the study. However, 71 per cent of consumers think that aircrafts emit between three and twelve times this figure. Incredibly, nearly ten per cent of consumers think aircrafts make up about 60 per cent of CO2 emissions. Director of the Travel Foundation Sue Hurdle said, "This just goes to show that policymakers who cite 'public opinion' as a reason for introducing initiatives relating to aircraft carbon emissions, are in fact using starkly exaggerated public opinion as a basis for their policies." The Travel Foundation works with the UK outbound travel industry towards making travel sustainable, giving practical help to make their businesses more sustainable and working on specific projects to improve sustainability in overseas destinations. The organization also provides information and advice for consumers through a series of 'Insider Guide' leaflets giving tips to travellers about how to make their holidays more ethical. Funds raised are also used to set up sustainable tourism initiatives in overseas destinations popular with UK holidaymakers, including Tobago, Mexico, the Gambia, Sri Lanka and Cyprus. Hurdle added: "These segments should be of real interest to travel companies who can use them to help shape their sustainability policies for specific holiday types and customer profiles. For holidays that appeal to the 'enthusiastic environmentalist' clearly there is more room to introduce overtly 'sustainable' features - while this might have to be more subtle for the non-environmentalist on holiday." Another expert thinks the hype has been stepped up by the earth-friendly groups. Justin Francis, co-founder of the online travel agent Responsibletravel.com, the organizers of the WTM's Responsible Tourism awards said in the 80s there was quite a strong environmental movement. He said, "Environmentalists accelerated the awareness to the threat on the planet. But remember oil never ran out in the 80s. It never did. If they again advance their claim, they run the risk of creating your so-called 'crying wolf' that will undermine people's confidence about what we're being told about the real threat to our planet." It is essential, therefore, that everything environmentalists announce must be based on facts. Francis warns against rushing to conclusions. "This planet is fantastically complicated. And though we might think we might know what is causing what at any one time, there's a huge amount more to learn. I believe there's a real threat. But I think that if we over-hype it [climate change/global warming] in order to convince people, we'll only undermine the changes going on. Sooner than later, we'd run the risk of not seeing what happened again in the 80s, and no longer believe in what environmentalists say," Francis explained. When asked about making accountable for emissions and effects on climate the world's biggest tourism importer and the biggest tourism exporter - namely Dubai and China respectively, Francis said: "In both markets, tourists need to be educated and taught about responsible tourism, especially tourists who are less used to travelling as the Chinese." If we see the world's hot spots filling up with today's traffic, one can just imagine how it will be once the Chinese explode out to the world. Francis forecasts destination managers will have to redesign how many guests they can cope with without the destroying the very thing tourists come to see in the first place. Tourism's impact on climate change can be attributed to three major revolutions of our times: technology and the internet, low-cost flying, and sustainability. Sustainable tourism ramifications over the industry will be as wide as the other key drivers in tourism. "People who missed the internet revolution 10 years ago, realized they don't have any business five years later. Others missed the low-cost airline revolution and realized the shortcoming much later. A lot of people today are missing the changes happening with regard to sustainability," Francis said warning, "Hit it now rather than be at the tail end of the sustainability stream." At the forthcoming World Travel Market (WTM) in ExCel London, global warming and related issues will be covered 13th November at the United Nations World Tourism Organization Ministers' Summit on Tourism and Climate Change. The WTM special event, now on its third year, will certainly play a key part in the international program in a bid to widen and deepen the debate on one of the biggest challenges facing the tourism industry. Government representatives will be asked to consider and ratify a declaration recommended by environmental experts at the UNWTO Summit on Climate Change in Davos, Switzerland to be held this October. The Declaration will be addressed at the UNWTO's General Assembly at the end of November - as a major aspect of the organizations submission to the UN's Bali Climate Summit in December 2007. UNWTO Secretary General General Francesco Frangialli said, "It is the most important and intensive tourism industry analysis on climate ever undertaken and a key component of the overall global response to an issue, which is, together with poverty alleviation, the biggest challenge of our times"