On our blog we often talk about HOW to travel sustainable. Today, though, we want to talk about WHY it is important. We’ll give away this much: it’s not just about protecting the environment. Ultimately, sustainable travel benefits you personally.

#1 Tourism as an economic factor

The tourism industry is an important economic factor – in some countries it is the most important. Your vacation sets your money in motion, helping to redistribute wealth and pay workers. Hotels are often large businesses with many employees, subcontractors, suppliers, etc. who also benefit from a financially successful hotel.

Unfortunately, not all hotels are sustainable and socially responsible, and often your money does not benefit your vacation destination at all. You may travel to a hotel in Thailand and your money ends up with an investor in the US or Japan. Some hotels employ seasonal workers who live in shabby accommodations (I was told this for a German island, for example).

By consciously choosing a hotel that operates in a sustainable and usually fair manner, you ensure that your money really benefits the region and creates fair jobs.

Support fair labor practices in hotels

One example is the Green City Hotel Vauban in Freiburg, Germany. This sustainable city hotel is an integration project, and half of all employees are people with physical and/or mental disabilities. The hotel has deep roots in Freiburg. Its shareholders are the Vereinigung Freiburger Sozialarbeit e.V. and the Freiburger Stadtbau GmbH.

Even abroad, you have many opportunities to use your purchasing power to help other people (instead of supporting their exploitation). At our Green PearlsⓇ partner Farmhouse Smiling Gecko in Cambodia, the luxury resort ensures the financing of the Smiling Gecko NGO’s training centers, school and organic farm, and also serves as a training center and employer itself.

#2 preserving resources

You probably already know this: Planet B does not exist. The idea that we could someday completely deplete our planet of all its resources, destroy all animal and plant species (and perhaps even entire populations), and live on Mars from then on is NOT realistic!

Fossil resources such as oil, coal and natural gas are finite. This means that they are taken from the Earth and then they are gone. Theoretically, these resources will eventually reform, but in the case of oil, for example, it takes at least 10,000 years for new oil to form from dead plant matter and plankton. We should all be aware that what we consume today will not be available to our children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren and future generations.

Renewable energy in the hospitality industry

In our opinion, one of the requirements for a sustainable hotel is to run on renewable energy. The least you can do is get 100% green electricity (something you can easily do at home by simply switching your electricity provider). But many hotels go further.

For example, our partner Hotel Milano Scala was the first Zero Emission Hotel in Italy. It is powered by geothermal energy, a renewable energy source that “significantly reduces greenhouse gas emissions,” according to the Ministry of the Environment, Climate and Energy. Other hotels and residences rely on their own combined heat and power plants, heat pump technologies, photovoltaic and solar thermal systems, and heat recovery measures to reduce their own consumption of fossil resources while minimizing CO2 emissions.

Upcycling and organic

Conserving resources is not only about energy, but also about buildings and furnishings. The HUBERTUS Mountain Refugio Allgäu recently renovated its hotel rooms using a sustainable upcycling concept. Instead of buying new furniture, the existing solid wood furniture in the rooms was simply dismantled, the (outdated) decorations removed and the furniture reworked. The new composition created modern furniture without cutting down any trees! (You can learn more about this in this YouTube video by owner Marc Traubel and interior designer Sarah Stapelfeld)

Throughout Biohotel Grafenast you will find sustainable and natural materials such as solid wood and local stone. The eco-friendly hotel is also committed to organic farming and uses only organic food – whenever possible, directly from the region and from the hotel’s own “Sehnsuchtsgarten” (garden of longing). Short delivery distances mean fewer greenhouse gases, and the absence of pesticides helps preserve biodiversity.

#3 Promote nature and species conservation

Which brings us to the next argument: sustainable travel supports conservation. Take, for example, the Casa León Royal Retreat in Gran Canaria. This small boutique hotel in the interior of the island has created a garden of native plants on its 10,000-square-meter property and uses only natural pest control. Here you can see a variety of small animals, such as the Canary Island bullfinch – the original form of the domesticated canary!

The hotel uses a rainwater cistern system for irrigation. In another sustainable initiative, the family that owns Casa León Royal Retreat has leased a 40,000-square-foot piece of forest in the Balkans that is maintained but still largely untouched. This has created another protected area for animals and plants in this world, which also helps the climate.

#4 Experience the country and its people in an authentic way

Sustainable travel means going off the beaten track and visiting places away from the usual mass tourism destinations. This gives you a real opportunity to experience the country you are visiting and get to know the locals.

Albergi Diffusi is saving villages in Italy

In Italy, the Albergo Diffuso movement has helped save Italian villages from decay. An Albergo Diffuso is a hotel spread over several buildings in a village. You live among the locals.

Our Green PearlsⓇ partner Relais del Maro is a prime example. Owner Elena Scalambrin converted several of her family’s commercial and residential buildings into a 4-star hotel. Guests arrive at the main house with a reception for dinner (and the pool), but otherwise stay in lovingly decorated rooms in the middle of the village community. The hotel has helped keep the village bakery and other local businesses alive. Here you will be able to experience the real Liguria and see the positive effects of sustainable tourism at first hand.

#5 Learning to love nature

“In the end, we will conserve only what we love” – Baba Dioum, Senegalese forestry engineer and conservationist

It is easy to understand Baba Dioum’s famous quote, delivered at a biodiversity conference in India in 1968. As we showed in our blog post on insect extinction, many animals and plants simply do not have a strong “lobby”. We think of some bugs and algae as expendable. It is only when we understand the important role they play that we learn to love them and work to conserve them.

Guided hikes in the Allgäu

At Hotel Das Rübezahl in Füssen, you have the opportunity to discover nature with the hotel’s own hiking guide. “Bergbaschdi” will take you into the mountains and show you the flora and fauna. You are sure to discover things you would otherwise have missed. (Read more in our interview with the hiking concierge)

Experience glaciers live in Switzerland

Glaciers are also very interesting. These “eternal” masses of ice are the largest reservoirs of fresh water on our planet, and they are in danger of disappearing! Fabienne Anthamatten of the Hotel Bella Vista Zermatt can tell you all about it. Her hotel has an 8,000-year-old larch tree that she found on a former glacier field. This means that the trunk was preserved in the ice for several thousand years and has now been uncovered.

On a trip to the glaciers, you can admire the fascinating masses of ice (there are still many kilometers left) and better understand the connections to global warming.

#6 Have a vision – and think about the future

Just being in the present moment is a beautiful mindfulness exercise. But you should also have a vision in your life. A vision is a motivating, positive idea about the future. And that’s what sustainable travel is all about.

According to the UN, sustainable tourism is:

“Tourism that takes full account of its current and future economic, social and environmental impacts.”

So it’s thinking about the NOW as well as the FUTURE and taking responsibility for it. If you can do that, you’re doing pretty well. And what better way to learn how to do that and develop your own vision of the future than to travel the world sustainably and be inspired by other visionaries? If that’s not a good argument for sustainable travel, I don’t know what is?

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