Many people are now engaged in movement to the fight global warming. They call on us to act. Yet, no one can ignore the fact that tourism is one of the activities that threatens the environment.
At a time when the covid-19 pandemic leads us to review our lifestyles, limits our movements and the number of people we can come into contact with; the temptation to fall back and to travel closer to home is growing! Occasionally, it is an excellent response to the health crisis. We will certainly have to narrow our horizons for a while, but will we have to give in to it in the long term as some are arguing?
I do not think so.
The issue here is not to save an endangered travel industry, even if behind it there are women and men who make a living from this industry and suffer from the current situation. Tourism professionals are well aware of this problem, are also concerned about ecological issues and many of them understood a long time ago that offering sustainable travel means making their professional activities and their income also sustainable.
The challenge here is human fraternity. Let’s not give it up! How beautiful it is to observe people who seem to be opposed in their lifestyles and cultures laughing together, looking at each other and understanding each other in a simple glance. Having this experience is magical!
Let’s not destroy this magic. Let’s use it. Travelling is an encounter, encounter with oneself and encounter with others! The magic of encounter lies in its capacity to make us happy!
However, there is no question of neglecting the fight against global warming. That is why the way we travel needs to be changed.
A simple answer would be to travel slower and less often. Choosing to leave once for 3 weeks rather than 10 days twice, to leave once for 2 weeks rather than twice for a week, etc. … This approach would have immediate effects on the carbon footprint of our trips. We would then reduce the number of our trips and, more interestingly, we would go through deeper experiences by taking the time to meet locals who transcend the trip and leave marks in our memories. Obviously, other answers exist, and everyone can bring their own.
But, without pretending to be perfect (Who is? Not me anyway), let’s all change a little something about our ways of travelling right now. Let’s lengthen a trip a little and give up on the next one. With MakeYourTripBetter.com we offer a brand new collaborative and free solution to help travelers meet locals or simply get advice. These wise travel tips will guide you in the practice of caring and kind tourism with the inhabitants and their territories.
In short, be careful, extend your trips, look for the best, MakeYourTripBetter and don’t come back just with stars in your eyes, but also with the happiness of having made new friends!
Dare to change the way you travel with MakeYourTripBetter.com
Founder of MakeYourTripBetter.com, the platform connecting travellers to locals, promoting values of sustainable tourism with human approach at the center of each trip.
