Decarbonization of Tourism-Related Sectors in Croatia: Evidence from Sector-Specific CO2 Emissions

Tourism generates substantial economic benefits but also increases environmental pressure through rising greenhouse gas emissions. Most previous studies have assessed tourism decarbonization using aggregate national CO2 emissions, although this approach may obscure important differences across tourism-related sectors. This study examines whether tourism activity in Croatia has become decoupled from sector-specific CO2 emissions and evaluates changes in the carbon intensity of tourism-related sectors using annual data for 2006–2024. The analysis is based on production-based CO2 emissions from the accommodation and food service activities and transportation and storage sectors, applying carbon intensity analysis, the Mann–Kendall trend test, and the Tapio decoupling method. Additional analyses of land, water, and air transport were conducted to examine heterogeneity within the transport sector. Tourism growth was generally accompanied by slower growth or declining sectoral CO2 emissions and a significant reduction in carbon intensity. Positive decoupling prevailed in both sectors. Additional analyses of land, water, and air transport showed that the less favorable decoupling pattern observed for the aggregated transportation and storage sector was not reproduced across the analyzed transport modes, highlighting the heterogeneity of the sector. This study provides the first longitudinal assessment of the decarbonization of tourism-related sectors in Croatia based on production-based sector-specific CO2 emissions.