Walking with Elephants the Mandalao Way
On his recent visit to northern Laos, Mark Bibby Jackson visits Mandalao Elephant Sanctuary near Luang Prabang to discover more about the ethical ways that tourists…
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On his recent visit to northern Laos, Mark Bibby Jackson visits Mandalao Elephant Sanctuary near Luang Prabang to discover more about the ethical ways that tourists…
Inspired by Random Acts of Kindness Day (17 February) to make a difference on your next holiday? From a beach clean-up to helping conservation efforts, here are some…
Lagom is set to disrupt the luxury ski industry across Europe. The new venture has been created by the masterminds behind Bramble Ski and Haute Montagne…
This month, a couple travelling to New Zealand embarked on a new experience to help rangers collect and re-release some of New Zealand’s most famous and rarest residents – the…
Cardamom Tented Camp in Cambodia has been chosen as one of 15 global finalists in the World Travel and Tourism Council’s Tourism for Tomorrow Awards 2019…
If you like to take your time travelling, immersing yourself in the culture that is hosting your visit, while burning off a few calories, The Slow Cyclist might be the travel…
The hotly anticipated Shinta Mani Wild – Bensley Collection opened 21 December 2018, crowning a transformative year for Cambodian luxury tourism. Nestled deep…
Searching for peace, quiet and beauty, Johan Smits finds in Luang Prabang a stunning little town at a crossroads. One tropical evening we find ourselves sitting in the nearly empty…
“There’s a great future in plastics,” or so Dustin Hoffman was told in the classic American movie The Graduate. Fifty years since the movie’s debut we’ve realised plastic is not…
If immersion into a way of life drives your travel plans, Ghana is the place to go to experience a West African existence. Be introduced by locals to basket weaving, fishing, farming, cooking…
Underlining its role as the Caribbean’s leading environmentally-aware nation, Aruba has announced a total ban on all single-use plastic from next year. The Dutch Caribbean…
Airbnb, the world’s biggest accommodation-sharing site, has advanced sustainable tourism, but the demand for more ecological travel is growing. Whilst the site features…
From Israel to Myanmar, and Uganda to the USA, the list of countries you could avoid due to ethical travel concerns seems endless. Johan Smits tackles the thorny issue of…
Anantara Hotels & Resorts will roll out a global ban on the use of single-use plastic straws at every property worldwide by 1 October 2018. Since January of this year…
Having lived three years in the Thai border town of Mae Sot and visiting the kingdom more times than he can recall, Johan Smits shares his Thailand travel tips to…
The tourism industry’s diversity has been recognised as the winners of the 2018 PATA Grand Award and Gold Awards are unveiled. A total of 27 organisations and individuals…
From humble beginnings TravelLocal is starting to take mainstream tourism by storm, Travel Begins at 40 talks with its co-founder Huw Owen about the company and why local tourism is…
Luke Bailes, the charismatic founder of Singita, is one of the most influential individuals in African wildlife conservation tourism, preserving swathes of African wilderness by promoting environmentally conscious and socially…
Hotel Húsafell in West Iceland is a proud new member of National Geographic Unique Lodges of the World, a prestigious collection of boutique hotels in spectacular destinations around the world…
Responsible tourism specialist Village Ways introduces Bhutan, the last great Himalayan kingdom and a little-visited and enigmatic country. New for this year is a 13-day Villages and Valleys of Bhutan itinerary…
In the second instalment in her Myanmar adventure, Marissa Carruthers gets crafty, takes a history lesson and hangs with the locals for a stunning sunset during a visit to Mon…
After travelling through the Wakhan Valley, Johan Smits reaches the famed Pamir Highway traversing Tajikistan’s GBAO to reach what feels like the top of the world. One of the two…
Research by experiential travel company, Intrepid Travel has revealed that people are becoming more self-aware of their bad habits and feel that they could be doing more to change their…
A pioneering sustainable tourism project is making its debut in the heart of the Cambodian jungle. Marissa Carruthers finds out from Willem Niemeijer how a stay at the Cardamom Tented…
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.