Sustainable Tourism & How to Travel Responsibly

As the consequences of climate change continue to increase, it becomes increasingly important for us as individuals to make small, seemingly unimportant actions to help protect our planet for generations to come. There are so many things we can do to help reduce our individual environmental footprint, especially when we travel.

At its core, sustainable travel is simply about making individual choices that will lessen your negative impact on a given destination and its community, cultures, wildlife or environment. The flow on effect from thousands of individuals doing this is bigger than we seem – think of KeepCup and how it has resulted in the removal of millions of disposable, single use plastic coffee cups from circulation each year. Now that is a true feel-good success story!

The first step in travelling responsibly is to pick an operator who demonstrates their commitment to sustainability. At AAT Kings, we are proud partners of the TreadRight Foundation, and we work together to have a positive impact on the people and communities we visit, to help protect marine and wildlife, and to care for the planet we all call home.

Choosing your holiday destination is another major decision that requires green thinking. Avoid destinations that are negatively impacted by mass tourism and activities that exploit or degrade the wildlife or community members. Did you know that Uluru was recently honoured in the Green Destinations’ top ten best sustainable tourism destinations list? Read more here.

Try the plastic free travel challenge:

As the war against waste becomes stronger and the global community continues to find ways to replace single use plastics for reusable items, it really couldn’t be easier to implement a single-use plastic free lifestyle. On your next travel adventure, why not challenge yourself to avoid single use plastic completely! Can you do it? Remember you will need to always pack the following items with you:

1. Reusable drink bottle:

This is an everyday essential. Single use plastic water bottles take up to 700 years to break down, and in Australia, around 373 million of them end up as waste each year – eek!! And with the impressive range of fancy new water bottles available right now in the market, who wouldn’t want to show off flash new drink bottle and impress their colleagues!

2. Reusable coffee cup:

So you can enjoy your hot beverage of choice guilt free!

3. Reusable cutlery set & stainless steel straw

4. Shopping/canvas bags:

To avoid the need for plastic bags when shopping

Extra tips to travel greener:

1. Dine in when you can to avoid the need for single use takeaway containers and plastic bottles. Plus, you are on holidays, sit down, relax and enjoy a glass of wine with your travel buddies!
2. Try the vegetarian or plant based option
3. Pack toiletries in reusable containers at home before you leave for your trip to avoid the need to buy extra
4. Take the bus, train or walk to where you need to go – enjoy the scenery!
5. Ensure you take any rubbish with you - If you are enjoying a beach holiday, make sure you Take Three for the Sea every time you are leaving the beach!