5 Eco-Tourism Mistakes That Could Increase Your Carbon Footprint

Tourism market data should be very encouraging to people in the hospitality industry. The number of tourists around the world rose from under 528 million in 2005 to nearly 1.2 billion a decade later. Unfortunately, this news is not as welcoming to people that are concerned about climate change.

Tourism has a very big impact on global warming. Recent data shows that around 8% of the global carbon footprint is caused by the tourism sector.

Does this mean that you should never travel? Not at all. There are a lot of ways that you can travel between states or even countries while leaving a smaller carbon footprint. You just need to know what steps to take. You also need to avoid making mistakes that leave a large carbon footprint.

Mistakes to avoid as an eco-tourist

If you are serious about protecting the environment, then you need to practice sound, sustainable strategies all the time. This includes following sustainable tourist strategies and avoiding the mistakes listed below. You can learn more from the complete guide to sustainable travel.

Relying too much on plane travel

There are a lot of ways to travel long distances. Traveling by plane is certainly the most convenient, but it is also terrible for the environment.

As this article from Vox points out, the carbon footprint of airplanes is terrible. The airline industry leaves 2% of the global carbon footprint. Among all travel options, it is responsible for 70%.

You don’t have to take a plane everywhere. You can consider taking a train, boat or bus when traveling shorter distances. You might need to plan for a longer trip, but you can find ways to make it enjoyable. Sailing between continents could be part of your tourist adventure, without leaving image your carbon footprint!

Failing to consider the ecotourism preferences of the local economies

There are a lot of parts of the world that are starting to make a lot of progress with ecotourism. A number of other communities are not doing nearly as well.

You should consider the environmental attitudes of the communities you are visiting. Why is this important? There are a couple of reasons:

• You are sending a message to countries that you support ecotourism. They will not want to lose tourism revenue, so they will try to capitalize off of green travelers.
• You will have a lot more opportunities to enjoy your vacation sustainably.

You can find a lot of List cell over the Internet on the greenest places to travel. We have covered a number of them in previous articles here at Blue and Green Tomorrow.

Not appreciating the benefits of technology for sustainable tourism

Technology can go a long way towards reducing your carbon footprint. It is invaluable as an eco-tourist. You can use a number of online apps and tools to:

• Find airlines, hotels and other hospitality companies that live the lowest carbon footprint
• Find the most efficient travel routes to reduce driving emissions
• Use more energy efficient tools

There are a lot of ways to help the environment. Technology is among them.

Make ecotourism a priority in 2019

Climate change is becoming more of a concern than ever. You can’t afford to ignore the consequences of poor tourism practices if you really want to help the environment. Fortunately, there are a lot of travel hacks that can lower your carbon footprint. You should follow them very carefully. The most important thing that you can is choose the most sustainable form of travel. You can still lower your carbon footprint by visiting a sustainable travel destination, but you should focus on your means of travel first and foremost.