10 Best Tips To Travel Sustainably

Tourism accounts for 8% of the total carbon emissions worldwide as per the 2018 research article. That makes travel and tourism major contributors to climate change.

Every time you travel on a plane or taxi, stay in a hotel, consume products you are either generating or contributing to the carbon emissions.

This is where you need help to understand how to reduce your carbon footprint when traveling.

And thankfully you are in the right place to learn about 10 tips to travel sustainably.

Before you move on to tips to travel sustainably, let’s first get a brief introduction to what is sustainable travel.

Sustainable Travel

Sustainable travel means traveling while maintaining the required balance between economic growth, human well-being, and environmental health. It aims at reducing the negative effects of tourism and maximizing its positive benefits for local communities and ecosystems.

Traveling sustainably means keeping an account of your actions for both immediate effects of tourism and long-term impact on future generations. 

Now the question arises how to travel sustainably? To answer that, I have curated this list of the 10 best tips to travel sustainably.

Tips To Travel Sustainably

Here are 10 tips to travel sustainably and reduce your carbon footprint.

#1. Make Sustainable Flight Choices

The major part of tourism’s carbon footprint is Air travel along with other forms of transportation. Your one flight can produce way more carbon emissions than some people’s carbon emissions in an entire year. Even with so much carbon emission during air travel, it is not possible to entirely stop traveling by air.

Then the question arises: what can be done?

The most probable answer is you need to make sustainable choices while booking your flight to make a minimum impact on the environment.

First, when traveling to a nearby destination, choose not to travel by air and select other sustainable modes of transportation like bus or train. Similarly, traveling by car alone will produce more carbon emissions per person compared to traveling in a group or with family. 

Second, if you have to go far away location where traveling by air is a better option. Then select only no-stop flights as these flights have less carbon emission per person by at least 100 Kg per person. The connecting flights usually travel longer distances than direct flights. And consume more fuel during taxi, take-off, and landing at every stop.

So, choose to fly only for long distances, and when you have to fly, only select direct flights.

#2. Stay For Longer

Everyone is in hurry nowadays. People are doing everything fast, be it fashion or travel. Which is resulting in increased carbon emissions. Instead of running around seeing every tourist attraction, slow down and spend more time in one place. Staying for longer will not only reduce your carbon footprint, but you will also enjoy your stay at the destination better.

Slowing down will help you in experiencing the destination better. As you are not running around you get enough time to immerse yourself into local culture and enjoy the unique charm of your destination. This way, you also will create many more memories that are authentic and meaningful.

So, traveling slowly is better for the environment as it will help reduce the carbon emission generated by traveling between destinations.

#3. Travel With Light Luggage

If you carry heavy luggage while traveling, it would need more fuel to transport it. So, pack light and carry only essentials to avoid fuel use and reduce carbon emissions. You can start by choosing a lightweight suitcase. Select clothes that you can wear multiple times and are easy to wash. To reduce weight, you can also remove unnecessary packaging from the items you are carrying.

Some estimates show that the world will save 2 million tons of carbon emissions if every airline passenger cuts down weight baggage below 20 Kgs.

So, whenever you travel, make sure you travel with light luggage to reduce fuel use for transportation.

#4. Conserve Energy

Most people, especially when traveling, are less conscious about their energy use and end up wasting a lot of energy. People also get careless about energy consumption as they feel like they don’t have to pay the bill. Our planet is going to suffer because of unnecessary energy use even if you will not pay the bill.

Increased energy consumption is directly related to increases in carbon emissions. So irrespective of the fact that you are at home or away minimize your energy consumption. You should turn off the lights, TV and other electronics when not in use. Also, turn off the AC or heat when leaving the room as that adds up to increased emissions. Or if you need to leave it on for some reason then set the temperatures some degrees lower to reduce energy consumption. You can also close the curtains to add an extra layer of insulation.

When staying in a hotel, you won’t need to get your room cleaned or towels washed every day. And hotels provide these services to make you feel comfortable. It is better to put up a “Do Not Disturb” sign to avoid this and contribute toward less energy consumption.

So, be conscious about your energy consumption habits even when you travel.

#5. Eat Local Food

Every destination offers its own unique dishes and delicacies. So, whenever you travel abroad, grab every opportunity of trying all the local dishes. When you dine local you will learn about traditional cuisine and help the local restaurants that source their ingredients from local farmers. Avoid eating food that is imported from faraway places and needs more energy to preserve.

As you eat locally, you will help reduce the carbon footprint of your meal and also support the local economy. You will also get exposed to some of the best local cuisines.

So, avoid imported food when you travel and try local food.

#6. Use Environmentally Friendly Products

Use products that are environment friendly or are at least reusable. You should carry your own reusable water bottle whenever you travel and refill them. Wherever possible, carry your own shopping bags, reusable straws, reusable coffee mugs, among other reusable products. Check here for the list of other eco-friendly products available out there.

So, you need to say no to single-use plastics whenever you travel or otherwise.

#7. Respect And Conserve Natural Places

Repeatedly you get to hear the news of travelers/ tourists damaging the local environment. You better don’t become the one damaging the environment. Always follow the marked hiking trail as that helps prevent unnecessary damage to native plants. And don’t litter out there, carry all your waste back with yourself.

Travelers often consume more resources than local dwellers do. You need to be conscious about your energy and resources consumption when traveling. Follow the rules and regulations of the local areas. As authorities mostly set these up to protect the environment and local communities from any harm.

So, whenever you travel, make sure you only leave your footprints behind instead of trash and damaged surroundings.

#8. Stay At Eco-friendly Hotels

As a traveler, you can influence hotels to go eco-friendly. Always book a hotel that is putting the effort into reducing its carbon footprint. To check, you can visit the hotel’s website as hotels taking steps to combat climate change put that on their website. Look for the data about the practices that hotel is following to reduce their carbon footprint. If no information is available, you can talk to the hotel directly to get all the information.

So, as the travelers like you choose sustainable hotels, other hotels will start going eco-friendly to attract more tourists.

#9. Buy Useful Souvenirs

Whenever you travel, buy only meaningful souvenirs that you are going to actually use. Many tourists end up buying products that look good at times but end up never using it. Everything that is produced has its own carbon footprint, be it a t-shirt, mugs, key chains, or anything else.

When buying an item, consider whether you are going to use it or it will just gather in some corner of your house. If you still want to purchase a souvenir, then buy only locally made products or products crafted by local artisans. Instead of mass-produced imported products, you will never use.

So, when you travel buy only useful & meaningful souvenirs and prefer locally made products over imported ones.

#10. Offset Your Carbon Footprint

Even with sustainable habits, you can only reduce your carbon footprint but can’t eliminate all your emissions. This is where carbon offset programs come into the picture. They designed these programs to help you compensate for the carbon emissions you can’t reduce.

By buying carbon offsets, you are basically helping the projects in other parts of the world to reduce carbon emissions. There is a wide range of carbon offset projects working on restoring forest areas to constructing renewable sources of energy. These projects also work on supporting local communities for sustainable living and protecting animal habitats.

So, for the emissions, you can’t reduce offset your carbon emissions by investing in carbon offset programs.

Wrapping Up

While wrapping up the tips to travel sustainably I recommend. Making the right choices as you travel will help you in making the right impact on reducing your carbon footprint. Small choices like choosing the right flights, traveling light, using eco-friendly products, or buying local have an overall greater impact in reducing your carbon emissions. And for the emissions you can’t reduce, you can buy into carbon offset programs.