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Planning your sustainable summer travel?

If you’re already striving to live a more eco-friendly lifestyle, you might be wondering how to make your summer trip more sustainable too.

It’s no secret that traveling can take a heavy toll on the environment. But luckily, there are many easy ways to reduce the environmental impact of your travel and promote sustainable tourism. With some planning, you can become an eco-conscious, responsible traveler in no time.

Not sure how to plan your sustainable travel?

Let’s explore 8 simple, yet effective tips to travel sustainably this summer!

What’s the Environmental Impact of Traveling?

Who doesn't love to travel? Most of us do. Traveling gives you the opportunity to relax, explore wonderful destinations, discover different cultures, and have unique experiences you’ll always cherish in your memories.

Yet, it’s important to acknowledge the environmental impact of conventional tourism to find effective ways to support sustainable travel practices:

• Tourism generates over 8% of global GHG emissions, contributing to climate change
• Hotels and tourist attractions tend to overuse water, energy, and other local resources
• Tourism generates more than 4.8 million tons of solid waste each year worldwide
• Overtourism can harm fragile ecosystems

8 Easy Ways to Travel Sustainably and Reduce Your Environmental Footprint

Fortunately, it’s not all doom and gloom. Sustainable tourism can promote economic growth, conserve natural resources, raise awareness, help protect endangered species, preserve cultural heritage, and empower local communities.

It’s all about striking the right balance between tourism and sustainable travel practices to preserve the beauty of our planet. Check out these simple ways to travel sustainably while enjoying your vacation:

1. Get Involved in Green Initiatives or Volunteer Tourism

Haven’t decided what to do on your sustainable travel yet? If you’d like to explore a new place while contributing to meaningful causes, you could seek green initiatives or consider “voluntourism.” You’ll be surprised by how many destinations offer eco-friendly volunteer travel experiences like tree planting, beach cleanups, wildlife conservation, and much more.

This sustainable travel practice is an ethical option to support and connect with local cultures, wildlife, and nature. An easy way to find trustworthy eco-friendly initiatives that align with your values is through ethical companies like Projects Abroad. As a B Corp, they can help you discover meaningful social and environmental causes you can be part of during your trip, from marine conservation to women’s empowerment. Whether you’re heading to Asia, Africa, Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean, or the South Pacific, they'll help you find an ethical cause to support.

2. Opt for Sustainable Transportation Alternatives

Already know where you’d like to go? Great! Now, you should explore the most eco-friendly travel alternatives to get to your destination. Choosing sustainable transportation options, like buses or trains, can significantly reduce your carbon footprint and help you travel sustainably.

However, if your destination is too far away and flying is the only option, it’s important to implement a few sustainable travel tips to minimize your flight’s environmental impact:

• Choose direct flights when possible: Planes release most of their emissions during takeoff and landing. So, taking fewer flights means your sustainable travel will generate fewer emissions and have a lower carbon footprint.
• Compensate for your flight’s carbon footprint: You can do this by using eco-friendly booking platforms instead of conventional options. For instance, when you book through Dyme Earth, this sustainable travel platform calculates your flight’s carbon emissions and compensates for them by investing in clean energy projects—giving you peace of mind knowing that your flight will support sustainable energy development in underserved areas, at no extra cost to you.

Once you’re at your destination, try to opt for public transportation, walking, biking, or carpooling to travel sustainably and reduce your carbon footprint as much as possible.

 

3. Stay in Eco-friendly Accommodations

After deciding on your destination and how you’ll get there, explore eco-friendly accommodations with minimal impact on the environment and local communities.

Look for green hotels or guesthouses that implement sustainable tourism practices, such as using renewable energy sources, conserving energy, saving water, and reducing or recycling waste. You can also opt for locally-owned accommodations to support local businesses and travel sustainably!

If you’re heading to Florida, Colorado, Nevada, or New Jersey, we recommend checking out  Legacy Resorts — the first multi-state resort in the United States to become B Corp certified. Besides providing 1% of their revenues to environmental charities, Legacy Resorts offsets 100% of guest stays, uses renewable energy when possible, supports local suppliers, and reduces waste as much as they can, which means you’ll be staying at low-impact accommodations.

 

4. Pack Light to Reduce Your Carbon Footprint

Another simple way to travel sustainably and reduce your environmental impact is to pack light. Buses, trains, cars, and planes require more fuel to transport heavy luggage, which results in more carbon emissions. In other words, the heavier your luggage, the more fuel your mode of transportation will use.

What can you do to travel sustainably and light? Pack only the essentials you’ll genuinely need and use. You can also opt for a lightweight suitcase or just bring carry-on luggage to make your travel more sustainable.

5. Bring Your Reusable Essentials to Reduce Waste

Something you definitely need to pack? Your reusable essentials, especially your reusable water bottle, reusable straw, and shopping bags. Remember that single-use plastics are extremely common in tourist hotspots. Yet, there’s nothing eco-friendly about polluting delicate ecosystems or local communities with waste. So, if you aim to be a responsible tourist and promote sustainable tourism, you should avoid disposable items at all costs.

6. Experience Authentic Local Foods

Supporting local businesses is a fantastic way to promote economic growth in your destination!

If you’re visiting a new place, why not eat like a local and fully immerse yourself in their culture? Eating local foods not only lets you discover and taste new flavors, but it also supports local businesses and reduces your carbon footprint. This sustainable travel practice cuts down on the carbon emissions associated with transporting ingredients from other areas. If you want to travel sustainably, give local restaurants a try and shop at local markets.

And don’t forget to learn local customs before your sustainable travel so you can respect cultural practices, heritage sites, and traditional activities.

 

7. Respect Wildlife to Travel Sustainably

Although interacting with animals might seem harmless, it often promotes unethical practices.

Most tourist activities involving animals —like petting, riding, or watching performances— are linked to exploitation and poor treatment. A more sustainable travel alternative is to volunteer for animal conservation initiatives, where you can help research, protect, rehabilitate, and monitor endangered species. This is a wonderful way to stay close to wildlife while contributing to meaningful projects. Alternatively, you could visit wildlife sanctuaries where interaction is not allowed, and animal welfare is a priority.

8. Embrace Responsible Tourism in Your Sustainable Travel

And last but not least, keep in mind that being a responsible tourist not only means reducing your environmental impact and respecting local cultures, but also taking care of yourself.

While it’s great to hope for the best during your sustainable travel, it’s even more important to have a plan B in case of unexpected events, such as illness, accidents, or trip cancellations.

The good news is that there are many sustainable travel insurance agencies you can count on, like Wanderwell. This B Corp, for example, offers affordable travel insurance plans so you can enjoy your adventures without having to worry about common travel mishaps—all while donating 3% of their annual gross revenues to support social initiatives, environmental stewardship, and sustainable tourism.

As you can see, there are many simple ways to travel sustainably while reducing your impact on the environment, wildlife, and local communities. By implementing simple sustainable travel tips like the ones we’ve mentioned above, you can reduce your carbon footprint and become a low-impact, responsible tourist this summer. Remember to spread the word about the importance of sustainable tourism and educate others on sustainable travel!