Taking off Travel blog

Vermont's Northeast Kingdom has a geotourism policy.

By now we’ve all heard of eco-tourism, but what about geotourism? This is what some might call ‘the new hotness’, except it isn’t really that new at all. The term itself goes back to 1997, coined by a National Geographic editor who was looking for a way to combine ecotourism with sustainable tourism. It then came out into the open at a US Travel Association Conference in 2002. Since then many eco-tourism destinations and others have been adopting an approach which is more aligned with geo-tourism.

Geo-tourism goes beyond eco-tourism. It is holistic and cherishes the uniqueness of particular places, as well as having the core principles of sustainability. One of the best ways to understand the difference is to check out the descriptions of sustainable tourism and geotourism on the National Geographic’s Center for Sustainable Destinations website. The description of geotourism includes these six points:

• Geotourism is synergistic.
• It involves the community.
• It informs both visitors and hosts.
• It benefits residents economically.
• It supports integrity of place.
• It means great trips.

The National Geographic Society also has a Geotourism Charter based on the following 13 principles:

• Integrity of place
• International codes
• Market selectivity
• Market diversity
• Tourist satisfaction
• Community involvement
• Community benefit
• Protection and enhancement of destination appeal
• Land use
• Conservation of resources
• Planning
• Interactive interpretation
• Evaluation

The full charter is available here. Many countries (and parts of some US states, like Vermont) have used this as the basis for their geotourism strategies and there is also a regular Global Geotourism Conference, which this year was held in Muscat.

(Image: dougtone)

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.’ Read more »

Tips on making your vacation greener

It’s great to be eco-friendly, but sometimes it’s hard to know where to start. Does having a green vacation mean missing out on enjoyment? Not at all. Read on for our tips on making your trip or vacation a little bit greener.

Plane Or Car?

There’s no getting away from it – cars spew out a lot of carbon emissions and burn a big hole in the ozone layer, if some scientists are to be believed. If you travel by car, you’ll be making a lot of starts and stops, adding to the environmental impact of your trip. Strangely, instead of driving, it might be more eco-friendly to take a direct flight (probably on the grounds that with a full flight there’s less impact per person), so book your car into an offsite airport parking lot and catch that plane. When booking your trip, choose an eco-friendly travel agent too.

Green Hotels

Getting eco-friendly accommodation does not mean staying in a shack. On the contrary, you can still stay in luxury at one of the country’s many green hotels. Green hotels minmize their impact by reducing packaging waste and waste in general, using low energy light bulbs and installing showers and toilets that use less water. They may also promote recycling and other eco-friendly strategies. There are green hotels all around the US – check out GreenHotels.com to see where you could stay. Read more »

I love Florida, yet I’ve only seen a small part of it. My first trip there was in the 1980s. I’d just started my first job and a few of us decided to book a long weekend in Miami. Truth to tell, I didn’t do much sightseeing then; it was enough for me to be in a different place and soak up the sun. But I made up for it on subsequent trips. The one thing I haven’t done yet is take an eco-tour of Florida, but I’ve been doing a lot of research and I’ve come up with a list of places I’d like to visit. Here are a few of them: Read more »