Ecotourism
Ecotourism is the latest buzz word in travel, but it means different things to different people. To some, it equates to sustainable tourism and means causing as little harm to the environment as possible, such as staying in a hotel that recycles its waste or offsetting their carbon emissions. To others it means only holidaying in places where tourists can make a real contribution to the lives of local communities. The word also includes back-to-nature style eco tours or wildlife holidays.
Whatever ecotourism means to you, we've highlighted a number of options for thoroughly enjoyable but guilt-free holidays, some of which are greener than others but all of which will limit any harm you cause on your travels.
Green packages
You can find a good selection of eco-friendly tour packages worldwide from a variety of ‘green’ tour operators at responsibletravel. Set up with investment from the late Body Shop founder Anita Roddick and her husband Gordon, this website allows you to search for a holiday by type, such as beach, family, adventure or safari, or by country.
To help you choose there are unedited, independent reviews of the holidays featured and there are also lots of last minute discounts.
All operators included on the site actively contribute to environmental, social and economic issues – so you can feel good about travelling with them. Latest additions include an expedition to the remote islands of Palawan in the Philippines, walking holidays in northern Spain and game viewing in South Africa.
Green car hire
You can stay green when you hire a car by searching for a rental company that offers hybrid cars that use a combination of petrol and battery power. Europcar has a few in each country it operates and cheapie car rental company Holiday Autos also has a handful of hybrid and bio-ethanol powered cars in selected European destinations.
Avis recently added the Toyota Prius and Nissan Altima hybrid models to its Cool Cars collection, though the majority of these are at rental locations in the US. Car rental giant Hertz has added hybrids to its Green Collection fleet, which includes standard petrol cars with proven fuel economy and low carbon dioxide emissions. It has 35,000 vehicles in its Green Collection fleet in the US and 6,500 across Europe.
Green hotels
It's not always easy to find a truly eco-friendly hotel so the best you can do is avoid the big, internationally-owned chains (even those that claim to be ‘green’) and stay in a small, local hotel instead. That way, at least you'll know that most of your money will be going to support the local community, not some faceless international organisation.
For further help in choosing where to go, go to thetravelfoundation. For a list of eco-friendly hotels in the UK and Ireland, try bestloved.com
Green transport
Letting the train take the strain instead of flying to your destination will cut your carbon footprint by up to two-thirds. Travelling around Europe by rail has always been a bit tricky but this will change early next year through the creation of Railteam, an alliance of all the different European operators which will enable you to buy and collect tickets for any train journey in Europe from your local rail operator. In the meantime, try raileurope and seat61 for European and worldwide train travel.
If your idea of hell is being trapped in a floating hotel with other people's children then you'll be relieved to know that Windstar does not encourage youngsters on board and infants under 2 are banned.
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