10 ways you can travel more responsibly, LOVEexploring

With the UN declaring 2017 the Year of Sustainable Travel, there’s no better time to think green on holiday – and, luckily, that doesn’t involve us all wearing hessian and braving compost toilets.

We think that having a positive impact on the planet’s environment and inhabitants is important, and when done well, tourism can be a positive force for good; hotels provide work opportunities to locals and it often encourages residents to keep their environment clean.

With more travel businesses wising up to the benefits of sustainability, going green on holiday is easier than ever, and often makes an experience all the better. Here are a few ways you can be a little more responsible about the way you travel. 

1. Pick a green hotel

Whether looking to escape from it all in an off-grid mountainside dome (White Pod), kick back in a driftwood, clifftop hot-tub (The Scarlet) or kip in Brooklyn’s coolest new digs (1 Hotel), it’s often the sustainably-minded hotels that provide the best hospitality experiences.

Arbiters like Bouteco and i-escape list boutique eco-heroes and TripAdvisor even makes a nod to greener hotels via their greenleaders programme.

2. Go where there is greater need

Nepal, Turkey, Jordan, Egypt, Tunisia and Brazil, are just a few places where a heavy economic reliance on tourism has been derailed by natural disasters, political turmoil or disease. Admittedly there’s no merit in travelling somewhere that is downright dangerous, but it is sometimes worth looking beyond unfounded fear. 

3. Seek meaningful experiences

After maxing out on the beach, shops, food, adventure and all the other things we should all indulge in on holiday, seek out inspiring experiences with a social purpose. In only an hour it could add a whole other dimension to a trip and enrich your perspective. Mumbai’s Reality Tours give profits back to the slums they take people around and in Cape Town, Uthando demonstrates to tourists the success of township-based social and entrepreneurial projects.

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