Recently updated on July 3rd, 2025 at 04:21 pm
Sustainable travel isn’t just about mitigating the negative impacts of travel. When it’s done well, sustainable travel can also have regenerative effects across communities and environments and can actually help to leave places better than you found them. In honour of Earth Day on April 22, we look at the symbiotic relationship between travel and sustainability. From creating jobs and supporting livelihoods to protecting wildlife and natural habitats, here’s why travel and sustainability are the ultimate power couple – when done right.
1. Sustainable travel supports job creation and livelihoods
On its own, mass tourism has a devastating impact on people and places, by driving out local businesses, exploiting communities, and destroying environments. But when you pair travel and sustainability, you create a positive economic force supporting communities all over the world. As one of the world’s biggest employers, the tourism industry contributes to 10% of the global GDP and supports more than one in 10 jobs globally. If the tourism industry stops, millions of people lose their jobs, businesses and livelihoods.
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Sustainable tourism contributes by encouraging travellers to support locally-owned businesses. You can stay and eat in locally-owned accommodations and restaurants. You can do activities that help you meet the locals and get to know the culture, such as cooking classes or guided walks through heritage areas.
When you travel with Trafalgar, you’ll experience these kinds of activities with our Make Travel Matter Experiences®. Specifically developed to provide sustainable income for the people and communities we visit, the experiences aim to showcase cultures in a way that’s mutually beneficial for the host and guest.
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You can also choose to slow down and spend more time in each destination, meaning you build more meaningful connections and really get to know the people and culture of each place you visit. You can also travel with sustainable group tours, such as Trafalgar trips, which focus on smaller groups and real local experiences. When you travel sustainably with Trafalgar, you not only enjoy more authentic and thoughtful experiences, but you also support local businesses, particularly those devastated by the COVID pandemic.
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2. Sustainable travel protects natural and cultural heritage
Mass tourism is known to devastate places of natural and cultural significance. When hordes of tourists sweep through an area, it’s no surprise it can cause long-term damage to natural habitats and historic sites. On the flip side, travel can actually have a positive impact on natural and cultural heritage – when it’s done sustainably.
When travellers pay entry fees to visit important sites such as national parks or ancient ruins, the money can go directly towards the preservation of these places. Without sustainable tourism, many communities simply do not have the resources to maintain and protect these sites. When done sustainably, tourism can encourage locals to protect and share their cultural heritage, while also providing enriching educational experiences to visitors.
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Sustainable tourism also focuses on redistributing travellers, so destinations avoid suffering from overtourism. At Trafalgar, we’re aiming to achieve a 20% increase in trips visiting developing regions by 2025. This means we can better support developing destinations and you can visit unique destinations and enjoy some incredible experiences, without the crowds.
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We define a developing region as those with limited or no signs of overtourism, those that will support a better spread of tourism such as secondary cities, and those we haven’t visited in 2019. If you want to be a sustainable traveller, you can choose to visit destinations in need of tourism such as the Balkans, Botswana or Nepal. If you want to travel to popular places like Paris and Venice, you can plan your trips for the off-season to help spread out the influx of travellers.
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3. Travel and sustainability protects endangered species
We know unsustainable tourism often leads to the exploitation of wildlife such as elephant riding or tiger petting zoos. But when travel and sustainability get together, they play a pivotal role in environmental conservation. Not only does sustainable travel help educate travellers against animal abuse and help shut down exploitative activities, but it also helps reduce poaching, illegal fishing, and deforestation.
This is because sustainable tourism supports and funds conservation and rehabilitation programs for wildlife and natural habitats. Many communities are able to shut down poaching or deforestation because they have other income streams from tourism and also have the resources to protect these areas, such as rangers and security systems.
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4. Sustainability is becoming essential for travelers
Sustainability isn’t just a trend – it’s becoming a way of life for more travellers. Booking.com’s 2021 Sustainable Travel Report found that 73% of US travellers think sustainable travel is vital and 46% say the COVID pandemic made them want to pursue sustainable travel. The American Express Travel 2022 Global Travel Trends Report found that 60% of respondents want to book airlines with a carbon-neutral commitment and 55% have an interest in carbon-negative travel. A further 65% are trying to be more aware of sustainable travel brands.
As more people make sustainability a non-negotiable part of travel and the tourism industry rises to the demand, we’ll see travel and sustainability become firmly cemented as the ultimate power couple leaving a positive impact on the world.
Ways you can travel more sustainably
Choose real, locally made souvenirs
Do you need that tacky fridge magnet? Instead why not consciously spend money buying local artwork, craft or something made by a skilled local artisan. When you travel you’ll come across creative people keeping ancient art forms alive and the best way to support them is buy a piece to take home. Imagine how special it will feel to display that new hand-painted vase, hand-stitched leather bag or new hand-woven cushion in your home.
Michelin starred dining with a green twist
If you’re a fine dining lover you might like to tick off a Michelin-starred restaurant or two while touring new cities and destinations. In 2020 the Michelin Guide launched a new type of star – a green star – to highlight incredible Michelin-level restaurants that are championing sustainability too. These special restaurants are at the forefront of the industry for sustainable practices, working directly with sustainable producers and suppliers to avoid waste.
Book a longer vacation
You don’t need to sail across the seas like Greta Thunberg, but thinking about the impact of air travel is a good place to start. Rather than plan lots of little adventures and half a dozen flights, be responsible for your travel footprint and choose a longer adventure instead. For example, instead of flying to Paris for a long weekend, plan a multi-week journey that takes you across France and Europe and cash in your annual leave for a grand adventure you’ll talk about for years to come. Why not knock over a few of our favourite sustainable travel destinations for 2022 while you’re there?
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Choose green travel experiences
The activities you do and the impact they have matters. Is your tour guide local to the area? Is the money going to the local economy? Are the animals being treated ethically? Are the artisans being paid fairly? There is a lot to consider when booking experiences and activities on holiday to make sure you have a positive impact. It’s why Trafalgar makes it easy with MAKE TRAVEL MATTER® Experiences, which have been hand-picked and vetted to have a positive impact on the environment, people and places you visit.
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Skip the cruise
When it comes to sustainable travel, cruising doesn’t quite tick the box. As most cruises are all-inclusive, travellers visiting popular destinations by cruise ship put pressure on attractions and services without giving back as much to the local economy. Sleeping aboard the ship means not using local hotels and hotel staff. Meals served on board means no need to spend at local cafes and restaurants. On top of that, cruise ships are massive and dump huge amounts of waste that destroy marine ecosystems
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Share the joy of travel
You can still experience the thrill of a shared adventure and meet like-minded travellers while exploring the best travel destinations to visit in 2022. Rather than fly from city to city or take a private car between destinations, choose to travel by public transport or join a group tour that travels via land. The majority of Trafalgar tours use state-of-the-art coaches to travel between cities and destinations and travelling as a group makes your footprint lower than any other means.
Eat local
The best thing you can eat on vacation? Whatever the locals are having. Drink the local beer, ask for the region’s wine and enjoy whatever local dishes, meat or seasonal vegetables are on offer. Local food will be fresher, healthier and tastier than frozen hamburgers and pizza, plus you’ll be supporting the local network of food producers and farmers and keeping those food miles low. You can take your responsible travel a step further and seek out restaurants that label themselves as sustainable, who work with local producers or that have vegan and vegetarian options too.
Offset your travel
When you want to reach far-flung destinations (without spending months on a ship!) you have to fly. Of course, planes produce a huge amount of emissions so one way to explore the world more sustainably is to offset your carbon footprint. Plenty of airlines will offer the chance to offset your flight while purchasing tickets, or you can use not-for-profit organisations like Carbonfund.org or Tomorrow’s Air.
Reduce, reuse, recycle
Two simple things you can pack to reduce your reliance on single-use plastic? A tote bag and a reusable drink bottle. There’s no point seeking out the most sustainable travel destinations if you don’t think ahead and arrive prepared to say no to plastic.
How do you travel sustainably? Let us know in the comments below!