The Quest for Sustainable Travel

Sustainable Travel

Humans are nomadic by our very nature. We wander, we connect, we create, we consume. Travel is in our genes but there’s no denying the impact travel and tourism has on the planet. As one of the largest industries in the world in terms of economic impact and employment, if not revenue, it is increasingly impossible to overlook the impact our adventures have on our planet.

We believe the first step to precipitating change is to acknowledge the impact we have and from there we can begin to take the first steps towards becoming better. Kandoo Adventures have been operating responsibly since before the climate emergency was known to be a crisis and the very nature of what we do has a much lower impact than your average all-inclusive package holiday.

As we talk more about our impact, we’re researching more ways we can improve the responsibility of what we do and learn about what others are doing to become more sustainable. To do this, we have to delve deeper into what is tourism sustainability? What does it look like? What does it mean to people? And is there such a thing as green tourism?

What is sustainable tourism?

Sustainable tourism is a way of travelling and exploring the world while minimising negative impacts on the environment, society, and economy. It focuses on preserving natural and cultural heritage, supporting local communities, and promoting responsible travel practices.

This is something we’ve been doing for years!

So sustainable travel is responsible travel, showing respect for the places we visit, the people we encounter but also the impact our adventures have on the environment. In that case we can break this down into three key principles to consider when looking at adventures and responsible travel companies.

1. Environmental impact

2. Social impact

3. Economic impact

The environmental impact of adventure travel

More people visiting a destination means consuming more local resources, producing more waste and putting a strain on the communities that are visited. The environmental impact of increased transportation and flying to other countries includes creating more greenhouse gas emissions, more visitors mean more accommodation is needed which may lead to the destruction of natural habitats for expanding towns and cities, and feeding these visitors means more land is commandeered for agriculture and farming, which produces more carbon dioxide emissions. There are ways to lessen the environmental impact of your trip though, so keep reading to find out what you can do to travel more sustainably.

An example of what we’re doing to help is our Wild Kandoo initiative. We’ve committed to rewilding land that has been previously used for agriculture, creating homes for wildlife, protecting indigenous plant life and providing opportunities for local people to get involved. We’re super excited about our very first project, the Kandoo Forest, which will create a new wild space in Bhutan for plants and animals to thrive, protected from urbanisation.

The social impact of adventure travel

One of the core factors to adventure travel becoming more sustainable is businesses taking corporate social responsibility for the impact that the way they operate has. For travel businesses this essentially means caring for the communities we visit and giving something back, not pillaging as we go. Operating socially responsible trips are something Kandoo are good at. We put money back into local communities by funding training, providing education, buying local, offering jobs and opportunities, and funding local projects.

Initiatives such as the Kandoo Himalayan Foundation are a great way to give back to the communities in popular destinations. In Nepal our local team have set up this foundation to support a community otherwise cut off from the world, providing clothing, education, accessibility to the village and opportunities not otherwise available to them.

The economic impact of adventure travel

The economic impact of travel refers to the effects travel has on the economy of a place, region or country. Different to the social or environmental toll tourism has, there are benefits as well as side effects of the tourism economy. Tourism brings income to a destination both directly and indirectly, creates jobs, can encourage improved infrastructure, provide more opportunities for developing economies by encouraging entrepreneurship and cultural preservation, and help to protect natural resources by providing incentives for preservation and conservation.

On the flip side, overtourism can put a strain on local economies, can lead to price increases making local goods and services more expensive, can create overdependency on a singular economy and may increase the possibility of corruption, corporate greed and competition for market share.

Why is this important?

The long term viability of international adventure travel depends on travel becoming more sustainable. The negative impact of travel already includes overcrowding, increased pollution, damage to ecosystems, more waste being produced, destruction of natural habitats, economic disparity, increased carbon emissions and the exploitation of local traditions and customs.

We’re in the midst of a climate change crisis and we’re told that this decade is the pivotal one for reducing the damage we’re doing to our planet. If the temperature of the earth rises just 1.5°C more, it could be disastrous for wildlife, ecosystems and us. A hotter global temperature could lead to more extreme weather, the reduction of natural resources, negative effects on agriculture making it harder to grow crops and the loss of both animal and plant species.

With more people on earth than ever before, we’re releasing more greenhouse gases which trap heat from the sun inside the ozone layer leading to the temperature increase of our planet, often referred to as global warming. The primary sources of greenhouse gases are burning fossil fuels, deforestation and industrial emissions.

This all sounds very doom and gloom, we know. But as we said at the beginning understanding the problems we are facing is an important step towards trying to reduce our overall impact.

Travel itself doesn’t cause climate change but flying by airplane frequently, producing more waste and not respecting natural habitats do. So we’re asking the question, what can we do to lessen the impact of our adventures?

Top tips for reducing your impact

1. slow down

We’re not saying you shouldn’t travel – we’re adventurers ourselves – but think more carefully about how you travel. Could you take less trips but spend longer in a destination? Could you take a train to where you’re going instead of flying? Or if you need to fly, can you fly economy? First class and business class seats are much bigger, meaning the carbon footprint of an economy seat is less than that of a first class or business class seat. Crazy, huh?!

Similarly, direct flights are more sustainable than making multiple changes as they make less emissions and travelling on foot or on bike where possible in your chosen destination will also lessen emissions caused by transportation. Specialising in trekking adventures means that travelling with Kandoo is way more responsible than a package holiday.

2. sleeping arrangements

We’re particularly partial to a night in a tent and many of our customers agree. Camping has a lower environmental impact than staying in hotels so one way you can travel responsibly is to look for adventures that let you sleep under the stars. If this isn’t possible, opt for locally run accommodation where your money stays within the local economy, or for larger towns and cities look for accommodation with green credentials such as those who use renewable energy, employ local people, use local produce and operate sustainably.

For accommodation with zero impact but total immersion with nature, check out our trips to Guyana where you can sleep in hammock camps!

3. Consider volunteering

Give a little something back during your travels and volunteer in your destination country. Whether volunteering to teach, build, support or conserve, donating your time to local projects will have a positive impact on the places you visit. Adventures that involve improving natural areas, conservation, education and sustaining the wellbeing of local people are known as eco tourism and are a super responsible way to explore our natural world with as little negative impact as possible.

4. Go local

Keeping visitor spend within a place is a great way of sustainably travelling by positively contributing to local economies. Travel like a local and hop on a bike, eat local foods and try new delicacies, stay local and support independent local businesses and use public transport where you can.

5. Travel light

Going back to flying, taking less luggage means less weight on the plane which will have a small but important impact on carbon emissions. It also means you don’t have to lug big bags around and can easily get to and from places with a small backpack over a giant suitcase, offering more flexibility. Using eco travel essentials such as bars of soap, reusable water bottles, reusable bags, natural deodorant and menstrual cups for ladies eliminate single use plastic waste, take up less space in your bag and last longer. Lots of wins here!

6. Teach others

Talk to people about how to travel more sustainably. Share your adventures with your friends and family, lead by example and show people that becoming more aware of how you roam doesn’t mean compromising on your experiences. Sustainable travel means preserving amazing places for local communities and ensuring they can continue to safely welcome visitors.

7. Look out for greenwashing

Greenwashing is the term used for promoting practices that are not as sustainable as they lead people to believe. This could be anything from saying you’re an eco-tourism business, which as we know is a company that gives more than it takes, when you aren’t to using phrases that have sustainable connotations to sell your products and services without them actually being responsible or sustainable.

Important details to check are accreditation, traceability and clear labelling and packaging. Stop falling prey to marketeers misleading claims and opt for alternatives that have the credentials to back their claims up.

What are Kandoo Adventures doing to promote responsible tourism?

You’ve read about some of our initiatives above, but we’re working hard behind the scenes both at HQ and in our destination countries to make positive contributions to the incredible places we visit. You can find out more by checking out our sustainability values. At the core of our socially responsible travel ethos is keeping group sizes small, travelling on foot A LOT, offsetting our projected carbon emissions, using as few flights as possible and funding projects to improve local communities.

We can do more and we will do more, but we need your help to do it. Book your next adventure with a company that doesn’t greenwash but quietly goes about its business affecting change where we can, travelling green when possible and improving ourselves as we progress along our journey to becoming better.

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