Ecotourism: Tips for More Sustainable Travel

[dropcap]E[/dropcap]cotourism, a green way of traveling, is becoming an increasingly hotter topic in the travel and tourism industries. For many people, traveling is an important part of their lives, whether you travel a lot for work or enjoy trips to other parts of the world. The truth is, you don’t need to have, or spend, a lot of money in order to become a more environmentally friendly traveller. We’ve listed some of the best things that you can do in order to ensure that your travels are as green as possible.

Carpooling

For people who regularly drive to and from their workplace, taking part in a carpooling or rideshare program such as that offered by Ridester is a great way to both be kinder to the planet and save money on gas. There are many different benefits of taking part in a rideshare or carpool program, with the positive impact on the environment being just one. Along with being cheaper for all involved, carpooling also allows passengers to spend more social time together, develop deeper friendships, and can even improve satisfaction and productivity at work.

Public Transport

Taking public transport is one of the best ways to reduce your carbon footprint when it comes to your road use. Especially useful for short journeys, taking the bus or subway can actually be cheaper than driving your car and even when it’s busy, the lack of need to navigate busy roads yourself can leave you feeling less stressed on your arrival. On the other hand, taking public transport such as trains and buses for long journeys can often be more pleasant than driving yourself.

Pack Lightly

When traveling by air, packing lightly can help you to do your bit towards helping the environment by reducing plane fuel-efficiency. If every passenger on a plane were to make an effort to pack as lightly as possible, they would be able to collectively improve the fuel efficiency of the aircraft significantly. Packing lightly isn’t just important for eco-friendliness, it can also help you to have a more comfortable trip and reduce your trip time, for example by eliminating the need to wait for your baggage at the carousel if you travel with cabin luggage only.

Shop Smarter

Wherever we go, shopping tends to make up a huge part of many of our trips. Whether you’re browsing the stores in your local town or exploring markets and shopping high streets abroad, shopping smartly and questioning any products that you suspect may not be ethically sourced can be an important step in improving the state of the environment. Although thankfully most Western countries have laws and regulations against selling certain products, you may need to be careful in other countries abroad.

Ecotourism, or environmentally friendly traveling, is becoming more and more popular with travellers and commuters all over the world. When travelling, there are many little things that you can do to be kinder to the planet and leave less of a negative impact on the environment.