What is sustainable travel?

All this talk about making travel better for the environment and reducing your carbon footprint - what does it all mean?

Defining sustainable travel is a little bit like choosing a holiday destination; everybody has their own ideas and no-one can agree! The common definition though is that sustainable tourism is tourism that avoids damage to the environment, economy and culture of the places we visit. Enjoying the world without compromising it is the goal of sustainable tourism. Over the last 20 years there has been a growing realisation that the way we travel the world damages it irrecoverably.

International tourism is growing at around 4% a year and that growth will put considerable strain on environmental diversity and indigenous cultures. Naturally people are drawn to the most beautiful and interesting places, but these are often unable to deal with the large influx of visitors and many mainstream tour operators are happy to flood a destination and then move on to the next place when it loses its looks.

Sustainable travel encourages a manageable number of visitors, which means

• less damage is done to the environment, which means
• people will continue to want to visit, which means
• local people can find long-term careers in tourism, which means
• people can remain in rural areas and live traditional lifestyles, which means
• less of a migration to the already crowded cities

What is it not?

Like the tourists, the tourism industry as a whole brings plenty of baggage. For example, much of Macchu Picchu’s famous stones are disintegrating under the daily weight of 5000 pairs of hiking boots and Mount Everest resembles more of a rubbish tip than an epitome of wilderness. Tourist hotspots spring up almost overnight and large scale building work destroys the beauty people came to see in the first place. When the attention moves elsewhere the crowds leave behind a blighted landscape and an economy entirely dependent on the tourist dollar. The east coast of Spain experienced this type of boom and bust in the late 70s, while increased building and light pollution on the Greek Islands has confused sea turtles into heading toward land rather than sea. These examples demonstrate the huge number of unintended consequences of mainstream tourism.

Why is it so important?

A determination to avoid this sort of environmental destruction is what galvanises the sustainable tourism movement. The continual growth of the tourism industry means that if it can be harnessed properly and orientated around sustainable goals, it can be a huge force for good. If done sensitively tourism is actually a way of protecting the world because it gives everyone an interest in preserving the integrity of destinations so visitors will continue to come. When everyone works together with the shared goal of sustainable tourism we can conserve local eco-systems, foster respect for foreign cultures and provide a lasting income for local people at the same time. For example, doing bio-diversity work can protect the environment, give local businesses an income from volunteers and promote awareness of the importance of conservation.

How do we achieve it?

Thankfully the old 'must see’ lists of the past have been replaced with new 'must protect’ ones as the damage done by traditional tourism becomes harder to ignore. A growing number of tourists are alert to the dangers and want to protect not only the places they visit but also tourism itself. The World Tourism Organisation has declared sustainable tourism the fastest growing sector in the tourist industry as a new generation of people are redefining their responsibilities to the world. With news about environmental damage now a permanent fixture in our papers and on our TV screens, more and more people are casting a critical eye over their holiday plans to make sure they’re responsible. The tourism industry is strongly consumer-led, so the louder we demand sustainable travel options the more common they will become.

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