Tips for Responsible Traveling
Are you an ardent traveler? While tourism is a booming industry for every nation out there, it is also known to contribute significantly to impacting the overall environment. Whatever region you travel to, the surrounding area & its native environment gets impacted significantly.
While you might come across environmentally-responsible travelers, the numbers are just a too few. Given the rising global warming levels, rapid climate change, and increasing levels of pollution in major tourist destinations of the world, it is high time that we should pay attention to being responsible travelers while visiting any famous destination in the world.
Traveling is known to come with a lot of responsibilities. When we travel to new places, we hardly take notice of the common problems in association with the environment around. We just focus primarily on fulfilling our travel objectives, including visiting new places, trying out new restaurants, enjoying the experiences, and so more. What we fail to realize is that each of our action tends to play a significant role in shaping the local environment of the place. This is the reason you should pay attention to being environmentally-aware while promoting the notion of sustainable tourism at the same time.
Promoting Sustainable Travel
There is a myriad of pressing issues that modern travelers need to commit while traveling. At the same time, we should also commit to share the vital sustainable steps that we undertake towards making a healthy & environment-friendly travel & tourism industry that is capable of lifting as well as supporting the people, locations, and environment such that we value our trips. Here are some ways to promote a healthy notion of slow travel in the modern era:
Your Travel Destination is Someone’s Home: The places that we travel to are homes for people just like us. These people tend to live & work here. How would you want the visitors to behave while visiting your hometown? When you happen to be the host, it is a great experience to show off your town or city. However, when visitors leave the town, you hope that they not only leave with pretty memories, but with a pretty & clean place as well.
As a good, responsible tourist, it becomes your responsibility to take charge of the cleanliness and sustainability of the place. Try including as many sustainable tourism alternatives to your trip as possible.
Reduce Your Carbon Footprint: One of the effective ways of promoting the concept of sustainable tourism is to reduce the overall carbon footprint as much as possible. It is quite easy to achieve the same and can have a major impact on the environment of the region & the planet as a whole. As per the recent reports by EPA, it was reported that 9 percent of the global greenhouse gas emissions were contributed by the aircraft alone. This is the reason why some high-end airlines are now offering the option for an individual who might be booking a ticket to buy some valuable credits to reduce the carbon footprints at the same time.
In addition to buying these valuable credits, there are other ways to reduce your carbon footprints individually as well while traveling. For instance, you can consider opting for a direct flight rather than a connecting flight –layovers tend to increase the carbon footprint. Some of the other possible options are to go organic, buy products from the local shops, buy fruits & veggies from the local farmer’s market, reduce plastic consumption, and so more.
Refrain from Supporting Illegal Trade: The global illegal trade market is huge. It is recommended to buy from the local shops or businesses. This helps in ensuring that the money stays in the local economy while creating jobs for the local people. You should aim at patronizing businesses that are not engaged in any sort of illegal trade like artefact looting, involving human exploitation, and others.
For instance, one of the most common forms of illegal trade in Southeast Asia is the business involving rosewood. Rated topmost for producing high-quality furniture, yachts, pens, cars, and so more; loggers in the region tend to ravage the forests of Cambodia for rosewood production. By refraining from indulging in trades involving such exploitation of the natural resources, you can serve as a major source of discouraging such illegal traders in the world.
Encourage Sustainable Options in Island Destinations: Leading coastal areas like that of Italy tend to be highly exploited for their natural beauty. While the seaside resorts and villas provide ample job opportunities in the local region, there are several practices that you can refrain from to promote a sense of sustainability in the region. Try opting for as many eco-friendly living options in such coastal areas as possible to avoid marine pollution and degradation. Make the most of your responsible travel plans!
