Love Your Planet: Why Choose Sustainable Tourism?

With an increased focus on the vulnerability of our planet, sustainable tourism/travel (also called responsible tourism/travel or ecotourism) is becoming more sought-after. Recent research showed that 82% of people say sustainability is more at the forefront of their minds when travelling now than pre-pandemic, and there has been a recorded increase of 70% in the number of people seeking sustainable travel options.

Image: Noah Buscher, Unsplash What is sustainable tourism? Sustainable tourism is an ideal choice for anyone looking for a holiday. It involves travelling in a way that impacts less negatively on the environment, local communities, and the local economy, and it allows you to have the same kinds of experiences without compromising those three groups for current or future generations. The United Nations devised 17 sustainable development goals, and by choosing sustainable tourism, we can contribute towards achieving some of those goals.

Image: UN’s Sustainable Development Goals How easy is sustainable tourism? Every action we take – no matter how small – has the potential to impact our planet, either positively or negatively. If we want to continue to enjoy holidays, we need to find responsible ways of holidaying. This could be as simple as: - Choosing an airline that has lower carbon emissions. - Choosing a hotel that has eliminated single-use plastics, sources their food and furnishings locally, employs staff from the local area, and gives something back to the local community. - Choosing excursion and tour companies that invest money back into the local economy through visiting local shops, handicraft markets, locally owned restaurants, or visiting local cultural and heritage centres. - Choosing a car hire company that uses cars with lower emissions or even electric vehicles. - Choosing to purchase ethically sourced and made souvenirs, and certainly nothing that has compromised the safety, well-being or survival of any species of plant and animal life. - Choosing to take recyclable waste home with you if you visit a destination that doesn’t have recycling facilities, and re-using towels and bedding in your hotel room rather than requesting new ones daily. - Picking up and correctly disposing of any waste plastic or other products that you see on beaches, in the sea and in the streets. Sustainable tourism can be as simple as adopting and living by the mantra, “Leave only footprints and take only photographs.”

Image: Jefferson Santos, Unsplash The more we do in terms of sustainable tourism, the better the outcome for ourselves and future generations. When you consider it fully, it seems senseless to do your bit regularly at home and then un-do all that good by not choosing sustainable tourism options for your holidays. How can you book sustainable holidays? Here at Worldwide Explorer Travel Holidays, I will source sustainable holiday and travel products for you, by researching travel products that still meet your requirements but negatively impact as little as possible – if at all – on the environment, local communities, and the local economy. I have hundreds of suppliers, including those who offer a variety of sustainable travel products, meaning that I can design a sustainable holiday for you whether you are looking for a cruise, a tailor-made holiday, a package holiday, a tour, a fly-drive, a wildlife holiday, or any other type of holiday. Your holiday will be designed around you, aimed at meeting your requirements in terms of your needs and desires for your holiday, but with the added benefit of having a lower-impact on the planet. In addition, for every holiday that departs, I make a donation on your behalf to support an environmental or social project that will benefit our planet either immediately, or in the future. These factors combined will make your holiday totally unique. I also have a variety of qualifications and training experience centred on sustainability, as well as first-hand sustainable product experience, and I am working towards achieving sustainability accreditation. This knowledge and experience, as well as a focus on sustainability, are uncommon within UK travel agencies at the moment, and it means Worldwide Explorer Travel Holidays is one of the few travel agencies through which your holiday booking can make a genuinely positive impact on the planet! Contact me to discuss your holiday requirements and I’ll find some sustainable holiday options for you!

© Created by Julie at Worldwide Explorer Travel Holidays, February 2023