What is Sustainable and Responsible Travel?
Whilst the terms may be slightly different they are very much intertwined. The Travel Foundation put it nicely, describing the aim of sustainable tourism as being to “increase the benefits and reduce the negative impacts caused by tourism for destinations”. These impacts come in the form of environmental (including protecting wildlife and natural resources) and socio-economic impacts on the communities we visit. Simply put, we can consider sustainable travel as the goal and travelling responsibly how we can help reach it.
What Am I doing?
The issues surrounding sustainable and responsible tourism are incredibly important to me. I’ve highlighted some of the measures I’m taking to control my own impact as a business and to ensure the holidays you take when booked through me, have responsible tourism at their heart.
• Carefully selected travel partners - I prioritise and actively seek to work with suppliers who have good sustainable tourism practices. This is often highlighted by Green Leaf accreditation. My aim is to focus my work with partners who have a real focus on providing genuinely responsible tourism and sustainable practices. I also work with companies such as Pack for a Purpose to help provide responsible ways to give to local communities
• Making responsible suggestions - I endeavour to suggest itineraries that reduce carbon footprint by including longer stays in destinations and a reduction in flights as standard.
• Being responsible with resources - I will continue to minimise my use of paper (and plastic) documentation and marketing materials. This means you’ll normally get itineraries, quotes and your travel documentation via email or through the MyTC app.
• Continuing to learn - I have taken and passed the Travel Foundation “Go Greener” certification for responsible tourism and aim to further increase my knowledge to ensure I remain focused on the best sustainable and responsible tourism practices.
• Helping you make informed decisions - By helping educate and talking you through your choices I can help you make more informed decisions about your own travels.
What Can You Do?
• Stay longer and travel less – Whilst this might seem a rather broad statement it’s worth considering staying an extra day or 2 in a destination before moving on. This might mean seeing 1 or 2 less places on a trip but cutting out that extra travel can help reduce the impact of your holiday and increase your positive contribution to local economies. Flying less is undoubtedly a step in the right direction so thinking about how you move about on your holiday (or even taking one longer holiday instead of 2 short ones) can help reduce your environmental impact when travelling.
• Think about the hotels you stay in - Some hotels are making that extra effort to reduce their carbon footprint whilst also introducing initiatives to help local communities, provide work for locals and source ingredients locally – I can help plan an itinerary that includes hotels that are going the extra mile with their sustainability efforts.
• Re-Use - Many hotels now offer the option to help them reduce what usage by re-using towels or bedding, if you can take advantage of this you’ll be helping to reduce the environmental impact of your trip. It’s also worth bringing a re-usable water bottle. Many hotels now have re-filling stations to help reduce plastic waste.
• Learn about responsible travel - Not all tours are created equally, take a little time to understand the positive and negative impacts even a day tour can have. Handled badly this can cause disruption to local communities, destruction of business and over-tourism which can ultimately destroy the very thing that makes some places so special. I carefully select touring options which help promote a positive impact on local communities and minimise the impact on the local environment.
• Think before you give – When you feel you want to give back it’s important to think about the impact this can have. Many people want to give back by making a visit to a local school for example however this can have a negative impact on the local population and be disruptive for the students. Instead take a look at programme’s such as Pack for a Purpose who allow you to gift to those in need without causing such disruption.
There’s no doubt we need to do more to protect our planet so it can continue to be enjoyed by generations to come. Travel can bring about positive change, it can be uplifting, educational and inspiring. Taking the responsible path can sometimes add a little extra cost to a holiday. After all, the efforts and mechanisms put in place by those doing things right does cost money but I hope this help you understand a little more why that might be. By educating ourselves about more responsible and sustainable travel we can, together, make more informed decisions about the holidays and adventures we take and in turn help preserve our planet and the incredible travel experiences we have for future generations to enjoy too.
If this has piqued your interest in travelling more responsibly and you would like me to help plan your next holiday or adventure please do get in touch. You can give me a call on 01329 890083 or email dave.dimmer@travelcounsellors.com