Doing the right thing: sustainable travel options
The pandemic has given some people cause to reconsider their future travel choices, seeking out more thoughtful, sustainable options, and agents can also show they know the best ways to help clients leave a greener footprint
It’s often said one of the potentially positive impacts of the pandemic has been to force some areas of the travel industry – and the travelling public – to stop and consider the impact the boom in travel of recent years has been having on destinations and the planet in general.
In 2020, we moved from overtourism to undertourism, both of which impact local ecology and economy in different ways. Nobody would want to see the return of overtourism, yet with revenue generated from travel in retreat and the corresponding impact on jobs and local economies, it threw light on the difficult line we walk when considering what is the “right” kind of travel.
One of the starkest impacts of undertourism is the threat to conservation projects built over decades to protect wildlife and assist communities; as the world shut down, funding for rangers, national park protection and contributions from travellers’ stays at lodges, camps and hotels dried up.
In 2020, stakeholders in Africa did all they could to try and ensure projects still ran and animals were shielded from poachers – and will no doubt have to continue to do so for a while into this year until tourism picks up again.
One of the bright spots of last year was Preferred Hotel Group’s launch of Beyond Green, a new brand to highlight sustainable hotels worldwide whose aim is to promote travel as a force for good. It kicked off with 24 exemplary hotels and resorts in the portfolio, all of which have been extensively vetted by brand leader and global sustainability expert Costas Christ.
Also new is The Conscious Travel Foundation, designed to bring smaller players together as a collective voice around sustainable tourism. Its five founders are Amy Welfare of AW Private Travel, Henry Comyn of Joro Experiences, Katie Terrington of Katie Terrington Private Travel, Georgina Coke of By Georgie and Olivia Cryer of Olivia Cryer Communications – and there are also now a number of mentors, including Petite Meribel of Sol y Luna (pictured top) and patron Jaisal Singh, wildlife conservationist, and founder of Sujan, one of the most environmentally-conscious hospitality brands in India.
“We’re aiming to champion the positive impact that travel can have and to bring together lots of small voices to amplify where we can; the idea is to break down silos as well so we’re not all pulled in different directions,” says Henry Comyn. “The travel industry has a responsibility to work together on this.”
Plain talking
With 16 safari properties in Botswana, Kenya, and Zimbabwe, Great Plains is built entirely around conservation and sustainable tourism.
It offers the private Eretsha, Life with Elephants tour in Botswana (predominantly from Duba Explorers or Selinda Explorers Camp) where guests are transported via helicopter to the village of Eretsha, where a community live alongside elephants and other wildlife on the edge of the Okavango Delta. Guests meet with local farmers and inhabitants, enjoy traditional transport along with the chance to hear stories of day-to-day life from those living and farming alongside elephants.
How to book it: Audley Travel has eight nights in Botswana, staying four each at Great Plains’ properties of Selinda Explorers Camp and Duba Explorers Camp from £6,545pp (before 31 March), including international flights from the UK, internal flights, all wildlife activities, meals and drinks. The life with elephants tour (including scenic helicopter transfer) has a separate cost of around £412-£642.
Be a rhino ranger
Due to the pandemic, rhinos have never been more vulnerable and potentially exposed, but if clients want to find out more about their plight and the life of the rangers who protect them, point them towards Zannier Hotels Omaanda (it means rhino in the local Oshiwambo language).
Omaanda sits at the heart of the Zannier Reserve – a 9,000-hectare conservation project owned and managed by local NGO, the N/a’an ku sê Foundation – and the Rhino Rangers volunteer programme allows travellers to immerse themselves in the challenging world of anti-poaching. The Zannier Reserve is home to white and black rhinos and employs a team of 12 anti-poachers, who work determinedly to protect the reserve every day and night.
How to book it: The Rhino Rangers programme runs for one- or two-week stints and costs around £90pppn, including food, accommodation at tented camps or sleeping under the stars at observation points, and anti-poaching unit uniform; rates to stay at Zannier Hotels Omaanda pre- or post-programme are around £370pppn (full board).
Stars go green
As part of an evolution of the Michelin ratings, it’s now possible for a chef and their restaurant to gain a Green Star, well, a clover really which, as Michelin says, “highlights the efforts of those operating at the forefront of their field with sustainable gastronomy practices”, including protecting ecological diversity, focusing on local food ingredients and reducing food waste.
Among recent recipients where clients could make a greener dining choice are Majorca’s Andreu Genestra of Hotel Predi Son Jaumell in Capdepera, who earned the island’s first Green Michelin Star (there are 21 in total in Spain), and Norbert Niederkofler of Rosa Alpina in the Italian Dolomites, where Restaurant St. Hubertus is one of just 13 in Italy to get the newest distinction.
Above and beyond
The new Beyond Green initiative by Preferred Hotels & Resorts takes away the hard work of finding travel ideas and hotels that really come up to scratch.
Any property accepted must have passed 54 sustainability points that align with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, and they can of course all be found online in one place; come the spring, they will also all be bookable under a common GDS chain code.
Several of the AndBeyond properties are part of Beyond Green, while others include Bushmans Kloof in South Africa’s Western Cape, which acts as a steward for more than 130 cave sites painted by indigenous San people; Islas Secas in the Gulf of Chiriqu in Panama, which is powered entirely by solar energy; and the Ted Turner Reserves Vermejo (pictured above) in Raton, New Mexico, which protects more than half a million acres of natural ecosystems and is helping to bring the American Bison back from the brink of extinction.
Tempted by Tuscany
It’s already one of Italy’s most beautiful regions, but for those who want to stay somewhere in Tuscany that really strives to make a difference too, then Borgo Pignano is the one. All of its power is produced in-house using renewable energy sources, its gardens are fed with filtered harvested rainwater, while natural and manmade lakes supply irrigation for the farmland.
One of the first hotels within Beyond Green, the property is 70% self-sufficient when it comes to produce, including its own Millefiori-flavoured honey from bee colonies, which play a key role in the estate’s ecosystem.
How to book it: Adding to the original hotel, there are two new villas to choose from this year, including two-bedroom Villa La Lavandaia, costing from €1,200 per night.
First reserve
Africa is full of options for conscious travellers, including Lengishu in Kenya, which has just been accepted for membership of The Long Run a collective of nature-based tourism businesses committed to driving sustainability.
Lengishu is an exclusive-use family-style home set on the huge Borana Conservancy, Kenya’s newest and most successful rhino sanctuary. When on the reserve, all guests are encouraged to get a behind the scenes view of conservation efforts by joining rangers to track rhino on foot, accompanying rangers on evening deployments, or helping the monitoring team track lion.
How to book it: Stays at Lengishu cost from £5,946 per night (full board) based on six people sharing (price excludes conservation fees and flights).
Take it slow
The trend for slow travel was already bubbling away, but the pandemic has some pundits saying it could be around for definite now, as people look for ‘no-fly’ options to cut their carbon footprint, or just try and enjoy a more leisurely pace by choosing train travel to really experience a country.
Expressions Holidays has a range of scenic rail journeys through northern Europe by train, including a new one for this year, travelling along Norway’s longest railway line, the Nordland Railway, through the fjords and across the Arctic Circle and the Saltfjellet Mountains.
How to book it: The Norway trip costs from £1,590pp based on two people sharing double or twin rooms; first class rail travel and room upgrades available.
Find a sanctuary
Costa Rica is keen to stay on UK travellers’ radars and has launched the Costa Rica Sanctuary campaign, with a new hub with content focused across five key pillars – culture, adventure, wellness, nature and wildlife, and sustainability.
The country encourages visitors to sign up for its Pura Vida Pledge, a four-step plan for more sustainable travel. Steps include ensuring tour operators work with local companies that have a Certification of Sustainable Tourism (given by the tourist board) and choosing an eco-lodge, such as Laguna del Lagarto Rainforest Lodge, where you can spy critically-endangered great green macaws in their natural habitat.
Other parts of the pledge include seeking out a volunteer progamme and being carbon-conscious, just as Costa Ricans are: the country aims to become carbon-neutral by 2050.
How to book it: Latin Routes has an 11-day Wildlife Of Costa Rica trip from £2,399pp (flights are extra, but cost from £499), including visiting one of the most biologically diverse regions in the world, the Osa Peninsula.
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