What are the Advantages of Sustainable Tourism?

Traveling is, of course, pleasurable, inspiring, and intriguing. However, touristic activities can sometimes be harmful both for the environment and the destination and the local people. As much as tourists have good intentions while traveling, they may not always prioritize looking out for the interests of the route and the destination. Therefore, carrying out sustainable tourism practices is of great importance.

We have been frequently hearing the terms green tourism, ecotourism and sustainable tourism. Sustainable tourism, which serves to travel more responsibly, has become indispensable to leave a habitable world for the next generations. Minimizing the damages of tourism sector on the environment is of significant importance also to prevent climate crisis. In this article, we talked about what the benefits of sustainable tourism are, and how it contributes to local communities and the environment. Enjoy reading!

What is Sustainable Tourism?

Sustainable tourism is to travel by creating positive impacts on society, environment, and economy. It aims to minimize negative impacts on the visited places. It involves contributing to the development and protection of the visited destinations by protecting the environment and welfare of local people.

Is Tourism Really Sustainable?

United Nations World Tourism Organization (UN Tourism) defines sustainable tourism as follows: "Tourism that takes full account of its current and future economic, social and environmental impacts, addressing the needs of visitors, the industry, the environment and host communities."

Each industry creates its own impact and tourism is no different.. However, even though there is no exact answer whether sustainable tourism creates a positive difference, as explained by the World Economic Forum, it is obvious that it damages the environment less than other types of tourism.

A survey conducted by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) showed that 80% of people believes in the importance of sustainable tourism. Negative impacts of tourism can be mitigated by making conscious choices that would ensure development of environment and local communities and a difference can be created through sustainable tourism.

There are many ways to make a trip more sustainable. Some of these are being environment-friendly, contributing to the social and economic development of local communities, protecting biodiversity and cultural values, taking measures to reduce carbon emissions originating from travel, adopting responsible travel principles. Having a positive impact on our world is in our control.

What are the Advantages of Sustainable Tourism? What Can You Do?

You can do the following to increase the impact and benefits of sustainable tourism on destinations:

1. Minimize Negative Ecologic Impact
Each activity conducted during vacation has an impact on our ecologic footprint; how we travel to the destination, where we stay, which activities we participate in, what we eat, what we buy determine our carbon footprint. The aim of sustainable tourism is to minimize this.

There are many ways to protect the environment while traveling. For example, even only eating local products and food coming from local businesses can make a substantial difference. Because imported food has great cost in economic and environmental terms, it also increases carbon emissions originating from transportation. An important part of sustainable tourism is to demand and consume local agricultural products offered by the destination instead of imported food. In addition, learning the culture of the region through local food is another part of the travel experience. Consuming local foods enables exploring new tastes as well as ensuring that the revenue of local community increases, and savings are gained in emissions.

You can avoid air travel if the arrival point can be reached through environment-friendly travel methods such as electric train. When air travel is inevitable, you can prefer direct flights. Thus, you would be reducing your carbon footprint.

2. Contribute to the Protection of Wildlife.
All activities conducted with animals address the adventurous sentiment of travelers / tourists, they provide opportunities for them to take photos and realize their desire to immortalize that moment.

The protection of wildlife is an important part of responsible tourism. However, animals are used to attract tourists in many destinations and this threatens biodiversity. For example, although participating in activities such as riding elephants in Thailand or swimming with pink dolphins in the Amazons may seem like innocent adventures, it is dangerous for the natural environment of living creatures.

Even the souvenirs bought when returning from destinations, such as antlers, turtle shells, tiger skins, corals, or ivory, create a great threat for species.

Whereas today, conscious travel is essential. The interests of all living creatures should be taken into account; and these kinds of demands and entertainments should decrease. We must not forget that wildlife and human life are fundamentally connected. Protecting wildlife is indispensable for the continuity of vitality in our planet. Seeing or observing wild animals in their habitats is a unique enough experience.

You can check out our article here to learn more about voluntourism which is added next to the concepts such as sustainable tourism, ecotourism which reshape our traveling perception.

3. Contribute to Responsible Tourism by Keeping the Environment Clean.
Travelers should contribute to keeping the environment clean after visiting local environments, marketplaces, archaeological sites or after relaxing at a holiday destination. If not, this can lead to extreme wastage, from plastic pollution on beaches to high energy demand in hotels. Responsibility starts at home, even before going on a trip. It is important to do research about the accommodation facilities you will go to, to look whether they have any sustainable tourism certificate, to learn whether the beaches have blue flag, to look into their waste or wastewater situation.

Consider whether the hotel in the destination you will visit uses single-use plastics as well as whether hotel suppliers reject unnecessary packaging. In addition, make queries regarding whether they conduct waste-sorting and whether they have recycling bins or compost for food waste. Learn whether the hotel uses low flow showers or water-saving devices and research whether a system for energy saving has been installed. In addition, learn the types of products in plastic bottles such as shampoos, hair creams and shower gel and the products used for washing the clothes and laundry of the guests, and whether the towels are changed without being demanded. Research where and how food and beverages in the restaurants are being supplied. In addition, it is also important to learn whether the hotel has environmental certificates and what are their environmental management policies. You can look at the website of the hotel and review the social media comments to learn about sustainable tourism practices of the hotel. This can help you receive feedback based on the experiences of guests who have stayed in the hotel previously. In addition, it may also be important to ask whether the hotel engages in local projects or social responsibility works in order to evaluate the interaction of the hotel with the community. This can help you evaluate the environmental and social impacts of the hotel.

Determining your preferences before taking the trip, considering sustainability criteria in hotel selection would be a major step both to protect nature and to provide positive impacts for local communities.

It is possible to make great contributions with small measures! How?

• Bring with you the items that will help reduce waste while traveling. For example, bringing your reusable water bottle with you will prevent you from using disposable plastic bottles. Similarly, you can reduce plastic straw usage by carrying your own metal straw with you. Carrying with you your cloth shopping bag would prevent you from using plastic bags. You can reduce waste generation by carrying your make-up / self-care items in reusable bottles.

Conscious choices regarding waste support sustainable tourism and help with the cleanliness of the visited destination. In addition, you can prefer sustainable travel destinations where visitor bearing capacity is considered rather than overly crowded destinations. Thus, you would be minimizing the negative impact of mass tourism and making a conscious choice!

4. Support Local Communities.
Options such as staying at hotels owned by the local communities, small family businesses and B&Bs would invigorate the economy and provide the opportunity to connect with the local people in the destination at a personal level. Working with local tour operators can also provide a similar experience.

The money spent by travelers during their travels can enable local people to be employed in jobs related to sustainable travel. For example, you can eat “nasi lemak” at roadside in Malaysia, or you can prefer a small restaurant that makes pizza in brick kilns in the streets of Napoli. In short, experiencing local products and buying local souvenirs contribute in the destination’s economy and enable the money of the traveler to go to local craftsmen.

5. Protect Cultural Heritage.
Responsible tourism approach and locally provided education experiences encourage local communities to share their cultural heritage. Prefer trips that focus on the rich cultural textures of the places you visit. For example, learn traditional handcrafts from local craftsmen or learn the dance of the region by traveling in scope of a program with the purpose of special training.

Such traveler demands create a domino effect; they lead to local people owning and being proud of their cultural heritage, thus seeing it valuable enough to protect. Thus, many local places increasingly become sustainable travel points.

What are the Ways to Travel Responsibly?

Many sustainable and responsible travel practices require less effort but create impressive results.

1. Go out of the ordinary and/or visit the place you will go outside the season.
2. Travel slower. Stay longer in the country, if possible. Become wholly absorbed in the environment and connect with local people. This will enable you to better understand the culture, history, and traditions of the destination.
3. Switch off the lights when you go out of the room where you stay and plug out electronic devices when not in use.
4. Take shorter showers and wash your clothes in bulk.
5. Reuse towels and bed sheets - if they are not dirty.
6. Learn to communicate in the local language in order to connect with the local communities.
7. Learn about local conservation efforts in the region when exploring destinations with sensitive ecosystems.
8. Ensure that your accommodation place provides local employment and treats its employees right.
9. Support tourism businesses with sustainable tourism certificates which follow local regulations.
10. Conduct research about environment policies of the accommodation place with which you made reservations.

Do not forget that your preferences matter as a tourist. The biggest support of sustainable tourism is you being more responsible in your choices. Supporting sustainable and ethical service provides is the most responsible thing you can do. The choices of travelers open up the way for responsible, green, fair tourism, i.e., sustainable tourism. Remember! Conscious tourists make up for great power!