There’s lots of editorializing in the travelsphere around green travel, from the simple idea of reusing your towels in that motel to exotic travel to ecotourism destinations. Brian Mullis took time out of his busy schedule as the president of Sustainable Travel International to answer a few questions about green travel and STI, an organization that:
Promot(es) responsible travel and ecotourism, support(s) sustainable development, and help(s) travelers and travel providers protect the cultures and environments they visit.
Sustainability is kind of a buzzword these days, along with “green”. Can you tell me what your definition of “sustainable” travel is?
Sustainable tourism is a form of tourism that provides a net:
* Improvement in conservation of the natural environment;
* Social benefit for local communities;
* Profit for business owners and shareholders; and
* Gain for national and regional economies.
Once you’ve declared a destination as sustainable, how often do you check back (or do you?) to determine if your sustainable guidelines are still observed?
…we don’t declare a destinations to be sustainable. We do, however, provide a Sustainable Tourism Eco-certification Program (STEP). STEP is the world’s first comprehensive, global sustainable tourism eco-certification program offered by a non-profit organization. It’s designed to be user-friendly, educational in nature, practical as a measurement and management tool, and applicable to tourism businesses of all sizes, including newcomers to sustainability, those wanting to improve their existing approach, and businesses that have long-standing sustainability programs. Applicants who are awarded a STEP eco-label are entitled to use it for two years before they have to get it renewed.
It’s all fine and well to jump on a plane and go to an eco-destination, and then jet back again, thinking that we’ve just had a sustainable vacation, but are carbon offset dollars really enough to mitigate the impact of the trip?
We encourage consumers and the travel and tourism industry to support legislation that requires a mandatory reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. This is a first best solution. We also encourage them to travel smarter, to reduce waste and to improve energy efficiency. This is a second best solution. Carbon offsets are therefore the third best solution. Although we can all travel less, utilize public transportation, reduce waste, and become more energy efficient, some greenhouse gas emissions are unavoidable. To help mitigate unavoidable emissions, we strongly encourage our audience to invest in high quality renewable energy, energy efficiency, reforestation, afforestation and avoided deforestation projects that are certified and verified by independent third parties.
I sometimes wonder if sustainable travel isn’t just green-washed luxury travel as the additional expense incurred to make the experience environmentally neutral may deter budget travelers. I’m not convinced that the typical gap year backpacker is going to spend an additional 250 dollars on carbon offset (for example) when they could spend it on two more months in the Himalayas. What’s happening in the low cost sustainable travel space?
One of the common misperceptions about sustainable travel is that it’s expensive to get involved. This is absolutely not true. The basic premise behind sustainable travel is that you have to be able to identify and (particularly for businesses) measure your impacts before you can manage them. There are numerous no-cost and low-cost ways for both consumers and businesses to get involved in the process.
Where are you dying to go next and why?
Mozambique because my wife and I love to dive, we want to experience the culture, and I want to see some of the new ecotourism projects.
For more information about sustainable travel – planning, travel practices, and more, check out the STI website.
Hey, NEV readers! Let me know if these interest you. I typically run them on BlogHer only, but the last one generated some nice feedback. I have more lined up, if you want to see them, I’ll run them here.
[tags]Sustainable Travel International, ecotourism, green travel[/tags]