Namibia: International Dark Sky Reserve
As the first African country to incorporate environmental protection into its constitution, Namibia has made its mark on the map for responsible tourism in a multitude of ways…
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As the first African country to incorporate environmental protection into its constitution, Namibia has made its mark on the map for responsible tourism in a multitude of ways…
Costa Rica has just received the 2019 Champions of the Earth award, the UN’s highest environmental honour, for its role in the protection of nature and its commitment to…
Johan Smits discusses abandoning flying with flygskam or the No Fly movement in the UK and Sweden. Have you heard yet of flygskam, Swedish for ‘flight shaming’? It’s the No…
Italy is a trend setter in eco-friendly travel, thanks to its bio-hotels, electric vehicles, hydrogen-powered public buses, certified municipalities, protected areas with guided…
Portugal has been awarded the Accessible Tourist Destination 2019 award from the World Tourism Organisation (WTO), becoming the first country to be granted the title…
Two YAANA Ventures’ ecolodges have been included in the National Geographic Traveller UK’s invitation-only Earth Collection publication…
World Travel Market has launched their Responsible Tourism Awards for Latin America. Would you like to make a nomination? The rewards will be deliberated over by…
Sonoma County Tourism (SCT) announced today a significant commitment to helping travelers enjoy a visit to the area while protecting the treasured local natural and cultural…
A project in South Wales is looking into the practicality of converting waste from Tata’s Port Talbot steel plant in to aviation biofuel. Waste gases are an unavoidable consequence of…
With the mounting debate on climate change and the movement against flights taking off, many people are choosing to travel by train, but are these diesel guzzling – or electrified…
TravelLocal, the Bristol-based global B2C online marketplace for tailor-made holidays today announces that Channel 4, the British TV broadcaster, has just invested in the company…
Johan Smits discusses Sri Lanka, tuk tuk challenges and responsible travel with Julian Carnall, the man behind Large Minority and the Lanka Challenge. How did Large Minority come about? The…
Up Norway has a strong commitment to sustainability and believe that you can satisfy your wanderlust and still protect the planet. The team at Up Norway encourages people to travel…
The Sri Lankan government is reducing airline charges and waiving visa fees to assist the country’s tourism industry in its recovery. TravelLocal – pioneer of a new way to travel…
Intrepid Travel, the world’s leading small group adventure tour operator, has launched a new programme of sustainable, small-group expeditions to Antarctica for 2020…
Travel planning platform, Rome2rio, has developed a nifty new tool to help globetrotters choose a destination for their next adventure that matches their specific interests…
Marissa Carruthers talks to the team behind Neste Zero Island to see what this exciting project holds for the sustainable holiday of now and perhaps even weddings in the future…
Jetwing Hotels, one of the most respected and recognised tourist organisations in Sri Lanka, is a forerunner in eco and sustainable tourism. Blending green innovation…
Costa Rica has recently declared the Miravalles Volcano National Park-Jorge Manuel Dengo the country’s 29th national park. The new addition, located in the north-western region…
Conservation-focused ecolodge and ecotourism project Cardamom Tented Camp in Cambodia, has won the 2019 PATA Gold Award in the Environment – Ecotourism Project category…
The Cook Islands Tourism Industry Council (CITIC) has recently launched the Mana Tiaki Eco Certification project, offering local businesses an opportunity to celebrate…
With a holiday abroad providing an opportunity to live more extravagantly compared to when at home, it can blur the lines between indulgence and wastage…
Increasingly around the world we are seeing a rise in conscious, responsible travel. Perhaps, nowhere more so than in Switzerland. Which is why we have decided to highlight six socially…
Luxembourg came top for accessible travel out of 38 of Europe’s capital cities, according to new research carried out by comparethemarket.com. The travel comparison site evaluated …
When we established this website part of the ethos was to provide a trusted source of information on responsible travel and ethical travel for the over 40 traveller.
For us, ethical travel covers a wide ambit from sustainable and responsible travel to ecotourism, but basically it means forming a partnership with local communities in a two-way process, rather than exploiting them.
One such measure is to refrain from using plastic bottles while travelling or at least to minimise your use of single use plastic. I still reuse the same plastic bottle I purchased down a supermarket somewhere many months down the line.
A great example of how responsible tourism can work well is community-based tourism. This should mean that not only does the local community share the sustainable benefits of tourism but that it has control of the direction that the tourism takes as well.
Responsible travel and sustainable tourism are often seen as being pretty synonymous. Read more about sustainable tourism. We also have a series of articles in our #sustainablesunday series.
Unfortunately, there is a danger of ethical considerations becoming part of a meaningless PR-driven CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) exercise. However, our intention is to highlight those tourism companies that are really trying to make a difference. Working together we can make a difference too. And if you’d like to carbon offset your trip, we’ve written a guide for that too, clarifying the potential pitfalls of carbon offsetting.