Responsible Travel Can Still Be Fun
When I first started traveling, we gave very little thought to the effect of travel on the places we visited. That has changed. Along with eco-friendly travel, people are talking about sustainable travel and responsible travel. But what exactly is it, and does it mean we can’t have fun any more? Not at all.
What Is Responsible Travel?
A simple way of looking at responsible travel is that we should be aware of the impact of our travel choices. The ResponsibleTravel.org site describes it this way:
With the opportunity to travel, however, comes a new responsibility to all travelers to ensure that their activities do not upset or destroy the very cultures and environments we choose to visit.
Lonely Planet has a great article on the topic which says it is ‘assessing our impact on the environment and local cultures and economies - and acting to make that impact as positive as possible.’
How To Travel Responsibly
There are lots of ways you can do this. You can make choices about your destinations and your actions once you arrive. An article in the UK’s Guardian offers some great tips, including volunteering, booking green travel and taking good habits with you:
If you diligently do your recycling, avoid unnecessary car journeys and take care not to waste water at home, take these habits on holiday with you. Use public transport once you are at your destination, keep heating, lighting and air-conditioning to a minimum and take showers rather than using the bath.
Travel agents are also getting in on the act, as an article on The International Ecotourism Society (TIES) suggests. There’s no longer a need to worry about whether it’s practical or feasible to do it.
Keeping The Fun Factor
And there’s no need to worry about losing the fun factor when you take a vacation. An article by Klara Glowczewska in Conde Nast Traveler described a community service day in Rwanda which left participants feeling that they had made a contribution to the society they were visiting. Here’s a video that shows one approach to responsible travel:
Are you in favor of responsible travel? What are your favorite tips and resources?
Resources
- Ecotourism and Sustainable Travel Conference
- International Ecotourism Society
- Natural Guide resource list
- ResponsibleTravel.com - for holidays and destinations
- Responsible Travel Handbook
- Responsible Travel videos and audio
- Ron Mader - Planeta.com - lots of links and presentations here
- Sustainable Travel International
- Transitions Abroad resource list
- Vagabonding resource list
Tags: ecotourism, green travel, responsible travel, tourism, travel, Travel Tips
March 2nd, 2009 at 11:43 am
what an absolutely beautiful and well written blog. It has definitely been added to my rss reader feeds.
March 10th, 2009 at 4:53 am
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