Sustainable Travel: The Future of Tourism

Tourism is a huge part of many economics around the world. So it will come as no surprise that the global pandemic has caused catastrophic damage many livelihoods and communities.

If you’re on this blog, chances are you love travel or are thinking about taking a vacation. After all, travel brings us alot of joy. But while it may bring you peace, calm, entertainment, and fantastic instagram photos, it’s not without it’s downsides as well. For example, we love visiting beaches on vacation - but if the beach has a big influx of tourists that it can’t sustain….it may cause the beach to become overrun with trash, and ruin the natural environment.

Enter Sustainable Tourism. This concept was created in a desperate need to accomplish a type of tourism that allows us to continue enjoying the wonders of the world, with the lightest footprint and fewest negative side effects as possible.

Let’s take Mount Everest for example. Believe it or not - the top of the world is covered with waste. Tons of litter is spilling out of glaciers and melting snow is exposing even more garbage. Twenty years ago this was unimaginable - and now we are witnessing an environmental degradation of mountain ecosystems. And we need to act now.

It is not only a matter of governments and regulations - each one of us is responsible for taking small actions for the preservation of the environment.

If you’re still struggling with the concept of sustainable tourism and would like a little guidance - this article will help you determine why sustainable tourism is so important!

What is Sustainable Tourism?

Tourist activity is undertaken by millions of people around the world each year. Even in 2020 (in the midst of a pandemic) 50% of frequent travelers said they planned to take a vacation. And there is no denying that this tourism activity brings about many economic benefits to destinations. But bear in mind - tourism also has a major impact on the social and natural environment. And we need to watch out for the negative side effects!

Some examples of negative side effects of travel are the acceleration of climate change, the large amount of generated waste, the loss of natural spaces, and the loss of biodiversity, degradation of local culture, etc, etc.

For the reasons above (and many more), it is important to establish a type of tourism that allows us to travel and visit places while at the same time not causing paralyzing consequences for the environment. 

Therefore, sustainable and ecological tourism offers a nice alternative that brings joy to the traveler, as well as benefits the local population & place.

Let’s split it and find out what sustainable tourism aims to accomplish!

Environmental Level

Wangari Maathai, a Kenyan social, environmental, and political activist, said: “You cannot protect the environment unless you empower people, you inform them, and you help them understand that these resources are their own, that they must protect them”. 

Sustainable travel makes an effort to reduce the impact on the environment by promoting respect for it and responsible use of its resources.  It helps to achieve balanced and proportionate development according to the needs of the environment. Sustainable travel will result in the preservation of places we cherish so much - and enable us to continue enjoying them.

Cultural Level

Sustainable tourism encourages tolerance among people from different cultures & backgrounds, while respecting the reality and socio-cultural truths of each local community.

It promotes the activities of maintaining, restoring and preserving collective or national tourist attractions. These can be archaeological sites, architectural monuments, or any other cultural assets. Sustainable tourism ensures that these cultural treasures are valued at local, regional, or national levels. 

As travelers, if we want to better understand these communities, we need to first learn to respect their cultural heritage. Instead of talking around taking pictures of people in local dress (without their permission), choose a homestay accommodation where you can actually stay with a local family and learn about their way of life.

Social Level

This type of tourism ensures that the benefits of tourism are felt by tourists AND the community alike. This isn’t a one way street with the tourist reaping all the benefits.

Through the right methods, tourism should improve the quality of life for the local population on many different levels. For example, with the arrival of more tourists should come new infrastructure that benefits the locals, new job creation, etc.

Economical Level

From an economical point of view, sustainability allows new local businesses to be created & encourages the development of tourism companies. This provides capital income to the local economy.  Woohoo!

Sustainable tourism also aims to reduce poverty by creating new jobs and increasing the consumption of domestic and natural products. See how tourism can benefit everyone if we play our cards right!?

What is Your Role?

And now you’re thinking “Okay, okay, I get it, but what can I do? What is my role in all of this?”. 

A simple answer would be: you need to learn how to transform yourself from a tourist to a traveler. 

There are still relatively few travelers and a large number of tourists.

And the difference? 

The traveler merges with the destination, respects it, pays homage to it, learns, and changes along the way. The traveler travels relatively slowly. 

On the other hand, the tourist embarks on a journey to run around the world, watch it, have fun, without entering any deeper. He wants to get the most for little money and time.

Transforming tourists back into travelers is a big challenge, a change that comes from within. 

When we choose to enjoy tourism responsibly and sustainably, we are already doing a lot for a better world. In other words, we are becoming active participants in sustainable travel. 

There are many reasons why we travel.

For growth and learning, desire to get closer to different environments, search for authenticity, desire for self-knowledge and transformation, helping others, desire to make meaningful connections, etc, etc.

In this day and age when all borders are being erased, we are becoming nomads again, and the whole world is our home. But we need to remember to take care of the world while enjoying it!

Here is my golden advice: sometimes less is more.

The fewer destinations and locations, the more we can respect the places we do visit. By reducing the number of destinations and slowing down travel, we change the character of the trip, and thus our impact. 

If we cram too many countries, cities, local attractions into one trip, we probably fail to experience the fullness of any of it.

I recommend that you choose as many destinations as you can honestly get to know.  Instead of visiting three countries in three weeks of vacation, you can choose one country and leave the others for the next opportunity. 

In my opinion, COVID has paused the concept of this “get in and get out” type of travel. With many countries requiring negative tests on arrival, this has complicated the entry/exit situation for most people. Once you’re in a country, it’s easier to just stay there - enjoy the many different offerings that nation has to offer until you need to go home. Instead of hopping around to different countries on a world marathon.

So in many ways, the pandemic has saved us from this superficial way of traveling and is forcing us to savor the destinations we do make it to MORE authentically & impact fully. Because at the end of the day, the slower you move the better you get to know the world. 

Another aspect of sustainability that I believe will be fueled by the current pandemic is exploring other methods of travel. Instead of flying (which many people are still nervous about), people will take to ground transportation instead - which is far better for the environment.

And the truth is, traveling only by planes and modern highways can be very limiting. And beholding yourself only to these methods of transportation may force you to miss out on certain treasures a country holds.

Of course, sometimes you can't travel without planes! But a new found focus on fewer flights is key. We don't expect you not to fly, but let’s try to travel with combined means. A mix of flights, trains, subways, cars, bikes, walking, etc.

I noticed that France is looking to ban short-haul domestic flights to encourage passengers to use more sustainable forms of ground transportation. Basically anything that was less than 4 hours by car. I think this is very smart and something that other countries should consider mirroring as well.

It is better to travel by train than by plane, and it is more sustainable to travel by bus or boat than by car. As a reminder, traffic is the third cause of global warming! 

And the absolute winner in the form of movement is - walking. It enables the strongest merging with the environment, the most experiences, infinite time for reflection, learning and changing. Let’s include walking somewhere in ALL our travels!

I also recommend that you don’t always look for "high western comfort" - which is an extreme privilege. I think the past year has taught us a lot about our privilege and the importance of understanding our fellow humans….despite coming from different backgrounds.

Travel is a great time to reflect on your privilege. And don’t be scared to experience a different standard of living. You are here to soak up new experiences!  Travelers who put experiences over luxury end up will always wind up taking away more from the moment.

Let's learn to respect the local culture and people, their work and way of life. And when we get back from our travels, don’t forget about the places, experiences, and communities you visited. Maybe you found a project along the way that you can continue to support, or a living habit that you see the benefit in adapting back home.  Let travel change the way you move about in the world….both on your journeys and at home.

By promoting the methodology of sustainable and responsible tourism, you are encouraging a better way of living.  Live it, spread it, and practice a silent revolution that will change you and someday the world.

Sustainable and responsible tourism may be more expensive at times - but you have to remind yourself that this is because you are not promoting superficial experiences and encouraging an underpaid workforce.  You are paying for a better system.  And that’s something that can make you feel good.

Sustainable travel preserves the world for us and our future descendants - so that they too can experience the wonders of the world that have been given to us.

It is up to you to take responsibility, set a good example, and others will follow.

xoxo

Lauren