Planning a Green Holiday
Sep
04
Some of the things to think about if you’re travelling green:
- Making all the bookings – for travel and accommodation – yourself means that you can make the greenest choices.
- Getting there and back greenly involves looking at alternative ways of travelling.
- Choosing a green, responsible tour company to book through means going to one of their locations and trusting them to have already made the greenest choices.
- Going away for longer than usual and making that the only long-distance trip of the year cuts down carbon emissions.
If you book through a tour operator go for one that is a member of the Association of Independent Tour Operators . Members of AITO have to protect the environment and natural resources, keep down pollution, make sure that local communities benefit from tourism, and that local cultures and customs are respected by visitors. Some tour operators give money to community projects in the countries they organise trips to. Ask before you book.
Choosing your location
The first step when planning a green holiday is to find out as much as possible about your destination. You’d be surprised how many people know nothing about a place before they arrive there – sometimes not even where it is on a map of the world.
Where you choose to go depends largely on what you want to do when you get there – diving, playing sport, lounging by the pool, and so on. Some things to take into consideration are
- Looking for somewhere that you can be as green as you are at home
- Doing something different – such as helping out on a local project while you’re away
- Trying a working or volunteering holiday for a change, such as working on an organic farm
Do some research into what life is like for the local people. You deserve a bit of luxury on holiday but in some of the most luxurious holiday resorts local people live below the poverty line. Sometimes the only people living in luxury are holidaymakers in five-star hotels. If you book into one of those hotels on full board or for an all-inclusive trip very little of the money you spend ever reaches those local people and you leave again knowing almost as little as you did when you arrived.
Even if you’re staying in the UK it’s worth remembering that the big tourist towns and cities such as London and Edinburgh fare better than others in terms of attracting visitors and in some rural areas local people can be living on the breadline. Think about getting into less touristy areas and spending your money there.
Getting there and back
Local holidays are the greenest especially if you can use trains, buses, or bicycles to get you there. If there’s a choice between flying, driving, and taking a train or bus, go for the train or bus. Flying and driving are the most polluting options.
Staying there
Whether you decide to spend some time in the world’s great cities or towns or on top of a mountain, check out the accommodation options carefully. Camping is one of the greenest alternatives. Self-catering is next greenest, as you can buy and prepare local food and control the amount of energy you use. Apart from those that encourage you to reuse your towels you can book hotels these days that have their own renewable energy sources, bore holes for water, have water-saving devices, are decorated with environmentally friendly and recycled materials, and use only locally produced foodstuffs in their kitchens.
You may want to know how well hotels treat their staff and that hotels abroad employ local people on fair wages. When you find a place you may like to stay call and ask how green they are or ask your tour operator. Remember to research how accessible accommodation is to public transport.
Choose somewhere you can get to from the airport or train station without having to hire a car, and in the centre of everything you want to see so you can walk, cycle, or use public transport.
If you need to drive, hire a fuel hybrid car.
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