How to Travel Responsibly and Make A Positive Contribution

Rebecca Tom shares simple guidelines you can follow to make sure you travel responsibly and green.

Written by Rebecca Tom

To travel is to broaden your mind, discover new things and try new experiences. It’s about getting to know the world and its people better. You as an individual benefit hugely from that, and the place you visit gains from the money you bring into the area.

That’s the theory, but in reality tourism can sometimes have a negative effect on the environment and local cultures. By following simple guidelines you can make sure you travel responsibly and make a positive contribution to the people of your destination and the environment.

You can start this before you leave by doing things such as recycling or passing on old travel brochures and stocking up on biodegradable toiletries to take with you, removing all unnecessary packaging.

By using ethical tour operators you can also help. Unfortunately there are no universal guidelines for deciding whether a tour operator is ethical or not and there are many bodies offering certification. Ask your chosen company what they do to conserve the environment and how they improve life for local people. Are they accredited or inspected by anyone? Is the accommodation they use locally owned?

Carbon offsetting to minimise the impact of your air travel is something you can easily do to help conserve natural resources. The amount of carbon used up during your flight will do more damage to the environment than any other aspect of your trip. By calculating the amount of carbon emissions you have contributed to, you can donate a recommended amount of money to a carbon reduction project (such as tree planting) to neutralise your footprint. For more information on this, see Carbonfund.org or Climate Care. For relatively short journeys, consider using other transport such as ferries or trains instead.

If you travel to a country that is poorer than your own, consider bringing gifts that will benefit the local community such as pencils and books for a school. It will go down well with the locals and it’s nice to know you are contributing directly.

On location, make sure to shop responsibly by avoiding products made from protected species such as corals and hardwoods or endangered animals. Buying certain products and importing them can lead to fines and prison sentences in your home country. A list of products banned from importation into the UK can be found on the UK CITES Souvenir Alert website. Also, help the local economy by buying local produce and crafts from local people.

Preferably book excursions that protect and respect indigenous cultures and wildlife. You should be able to find some cultural walking tours or wildlife viewing trips that are of interest. Choose your activities carefully and avoid things such as watching dancing bears and cockfights that are cruel to the animals involved.

Be careful with natural resources as they will be precious to the locals. For example, if you are staying in a village that has limited water, don’t have a long shower every day. Help conserve resources by turning off TV’s, lights, air conditioning and heating when not in use and don’t get your linen changed daily if you can manage without.

Walking or hiring a bike where possible avoids using fuel and enables you to explore the locality better. You’ll find you get to see more of a place if you are moving slower because you have time to notice more of your surroundings. For any travels further afield,  consider using public transport.

Don’t drop litter anywhere. Waste disposal is a major expense in poor countries and the facilities for recycling may not be as good either. Re-use bottles and plastic bags and take any used batteries home.

These tips should help point you in the right direction. Responsible tourism is not difficult to achieve and just requires a bit of thought. It promotes understanding and good will and is the best way to ensure that everyone benefits from travel.

Rebecca Tom is from England and loves to travel. Her first trips outside of Europe were to Israel on a school trip and then to Thailand years later with friends. She has since been to Australia, South Africa, Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda, Tanzania and The Maldives. Next destination, Morocco.