Travel green: are you already a sustainable traveller?
The world is once again at our feet! However, the sustainability aspect that is inextricably linked to taking a trip naturally rears its head right away. But what exactly is sustainable travel? And how can you travel more sustainably? We are happy to explain this to you in this blog.
What is sustainable travel?
What does sustainable travel actually mean precisely? Sustainable travel is a concept that you probably see regularly in the news, on social media or, of course, while researching or booking a trip. However, this is also a concept that very few people are able to give a concrete meaning to. The UNWTO (World Tourism Organization) defines sustainable travel as follows:
In other words, sustainable travel means: travelling in a way that minimises our negative impact on the world. This includes ensuring that the cultural and natural environments of destinations remain unaffected. And that the local population benefits from the economic advantages of tourism. With the main aim of ensuring these places can be preserved in the long term and future generations can also continue to enjoy this beautiful world!
How can you travel more sustainably?
Small steps make a big difference. To give you an idea of the various possibilities for making your group trip more sustainable, we are sharing a number of points with you:
- Choose a destination closer to home. By travelling a shorter distance and making fewer journeys, your carbon footprint is reduced.
- Choose a greener means of transport. Many European destinations are easily reached by train. Besides limiting CO2 emissions, this form of travel brings many other advantages. For example, you do not need to arrive hours in advance and you often step out right in the centre of your destination. You can read more about this in This blog.
- Offset the carbon emissions of your flight. At goMICE, for example, we do this via GreenSeat so that you fly climate-neutral. In this way, you offset the pollution caused by your journey!
- Book a direct flight where possible. Sometimes it is cheaper to book a flight with a stopover, but this way of saving money does mean more emissions.
- Reduce single-use plastic usage. Use reusable packaging as much as possible and avoid single-use plastic packaging.
- Donate an amount to local projects to offset the carbon footprint of the journey. Think of charities, social or nature projects at the destination.
- Stay in ecological accommodation. A growing number of destinations feature eco-lodges or eco-hotels. These are accommodations that embrace sustainability and have a positive impact on their surroundings. Some of the characteristics by which an eco-accommodation can be recognised are:
- The local climate was taken into account during the construction of the accommodation
- reusable products (drinking glasses, fabric napkins, etc.) are used,
- the importance of water conservation and towel reuse is emphasized,
- the food comes from local businesses
- The staff live in the vicinity of the accommodation.
As you can see, there are plenty of opportunities to take small steps towards making more sustainable choices when booking and experiencing your trip. Furthermore, goMICE proactively thinks alongside you to achieve your next LIVE moment in the Netherlands or abroad as sustainably as possible.
After reading this blog, are you curious about the sustainable travel options for your next group trip? Then let yourself be inspired by our next blog, in which we 5 sustainable destinations in Europe highlight.
You can (have) your online or live meetings & events organised sustainably too. In said Blog we give you various tips!
Update: This blog first appeared on 30 April 2021 and was updated with new information on 15 April 2022.