Sustainable Travel Tips

Staying close to home isn’t as bad as it sounds. Every country has something spectacular to offer, we just often overlook them if they’re in our own country. New and foreign things always seem more exciting, but take some time to look at things to do in your own country.  

As well as being a more sustainable way to travel, it can save you money too. Your transportation costs will be significantly lower. No visas to think about either. 

In practice, slow travel can include spending a longer duration in a place, not emphasizing a checklist of things to see, taking leisure time, and taking more time to educate yourself and gain more awareness. 

Taking your time will save you money. You can often negotiate better deals on accommodation if you’re staying for longer. You’re not constantly splashing the cash on transportation and you’ll probably cook more rather than eat out. 

It’s also better for the environment. Instead of hopping on a flight every two weeks, you’ll be in the same place for longer.

One standard that stands out because of its holistic approach is the Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC). Their criteria ensure that the accommodation complies with environmental and social standards, such as sustaining natural resources, before being certified. 

So the next time you’re looking for an accommodation, ask the business if they have a green certification and check if the GSTC approves that certifier. Some countries, such as Costa Rica, have certification programs to rate sustainability initiatives. Other certification programs include EarthCheck (Australia), Green Globe, Rainforest Alliance (Latin America, Caribbean), and Green Tourism Business Scheme (UK).

For example, Bhutan is one of the best ecotourism destinations in the world. Since 1991, Bhutan has been charging visitors a daily Sustainable Development Fee. The money is used on projects such as offsetting Bhutan’s carbon footprint from tourism, supporting community education, organic farming, and upskilling workers in the tourism industry. 

The tourism fee is pretty expensive, at $200/day, but there’s a price to pay if we want to protect our planet.

The most visited cities aren’t always sustainable, so if you travel to a more popular and busy city, consider travelling outside the peak season. Remember that a destination’s high season is mainly dictated by local schools’ break periods, not necessarily the best time to be there. 

Travelling in the off-season means you not only benefit from cheaper flights and hotels, but you are also helping to stimulate economic growth and jobs. The tourism industry's seasonality presents a global challenge for job security as workers are not often laid off post-high-season.

With the threat of global warming and climate change, we’re not unfamiliar with the devastating impact of natural disasters. It’s exceptionally hard-hitting for countries heavily reliant on the tourism industry. In some cases, it’s beneficial for you to travel to some of these destinations to help with reparation or stimulate the economy.

For example, Mexico receives 15.5% of its GDP from tourism. So when a 7.1 magnitude earthquake hit right outside Mexico City's centre, it’s understandable that many were focused on quickly resuming local tourism so that it could bring a faster recovery to the city, even while parts of the city were still under repair.

Hotels often supply small soap bars and containers of shampoo for their patrons as a complimentary amenity so that you don’t need to bring your own. But those little open bottles of soap you leave behind aren’t refilled like you might’ve assumed. Instead, they’re thrown out. This adds to the unsustainable waste that hotels produce. So, grab those open amenities the next time you check out your hotel room. 

The first sustainable swap that everyone should be making is to reef-safe suncream. These suncreams don't contain chemicals that harm the coral and reef when you go swimming in the sea. Hawaiian tropics has a great reef-safe suncream that I highly recommend.

Another easy action is to travel with a reusable water bottle. In some countries you'll be able to drink tap water and can directly fill up your water bottle, avoiding having to buy bottles of water.

Bring a tote bag to take with you whenever you go shopping so that you don’t have to take a plastic bag. Or if you don’t have another bag, get a plastic bag one time and keep on reusing it.

Make the conscious decision to stay in local homestays, eat at local restaurants and buy from shops that are run by people in the community.

Sometimes it might be easier to eat at a chain restaurant or stay at a well-known hotel, but this often means that the local economy isn’t benefiting from your money as much. Instead, it’s making rich people richer.

Green travel isn’t just about reducing things, it can also be about giving back and leaving a positive impact on the communities that you’re visiting.

One way to do this is by volunteering. You can contribute your skills and donate your time to people that will benefit from it.