What Does Green Travel Mean?

The terms green travel, eco travel, and green tourism are basically interchangeable. The concepts don’t necessarily refer to vacations with a concentration on nature or wilderness. In fact, green travel can take you anywhere from the Australian Outback to the bustling cities of the U.S.A. and Europe.

To become an eco traveller, you simply have to incorporate the basic ideals of green living into your traveling experience. For instance, if you are careful to recycle at home, you will want to carry that habit over into your traveling and be careful to recycle wherever it is you might journey. Perhaps take a bike tour instead of a bus tour, and leave a lighter carbon footprint on the place you are visiting. Don’t litter when visiting someone else’s country, city, or place.

There is also a social context to green tourism. You don’t want to do anything that would negatively impact on the eco-structure of the place you are visiting, and neither do you want to do anything that has a negative cultural impact, as well. Be respectful and mindful of tradition and culture. Many societies outside of our own have time honored methods of doing things that differ vastly from ours. Before you visit a foreign place, educate yourself about the traditions and heritage of that location. Green travel extends to socially aware travel. It’s a natural crossroads.

Green travel seeks to turn the negative impacts of tourism into something more positive. Travel and touring can be beneficial to a location’s economy and disastrous to its eco-system at the same time. This is particularly important to remember when visiting nature sites. An eco- traveler does whatever he or she can to enhance their positive impact and diminish the negative impact of their visit. Like taking a hiking tour instead of a driving tour, being sure to leave the location as clean or cleaner than when you arrived, purchasing souvenirs from native artisans rather than buying factory-made items from fancy gift shops.

If your idea of eco travel, however, is to experience nature or wilderness, then you may want to visit some of the world’s most exotic green travel destinations, which include:

• Madidi National Park In Bolivia – Bolivia’s diverse landscape offers a variety of different ecosystems to explore, from the Altiplano – a high mountain plateau where Andean civilization first flourished – to dense Amazonian rainforests like the jungles of Madidi National Park.
• Daintree Rainforest, Australia – The oldest continually surviving rainforest in the world, with an intricate ecosystem that supports species found nowhere else on the planet.
• Luan Prabang, Laos – Luang Prabang’s ecotourism industry has been growing since 2003 and aims to draw enough tourists to the area to help support and maintain it. Some of the places not only offer green travel accommodation, but also allow visitors the opportunity to experience local activities like fishing, rice planting and harvesting.
• Desert Rhino Camp, Namibia – Namibia, the second most sparsely populated country in the world, is increasingly becoming one of the world’s most popular up-and-coming ecotourism destinations.
• Loango National Park, Gabon – A mostly unspoiled area of Africa, and home to free roaming large mammals like elephants, gorillas, hippopotamus and forest buffalo.
• Lebanon – Lebanon is among the 25 top countries in terms of biodiversity and has a fledgling ecotourism business that provides visitors with access to wildlife, stunning natural landscapes and many other exotic treasures.
• Madre De Dios, Peru – Rainforest conservation groups promote ecotourism to the area in the hope of creating an economy that depends upon the rainforest remaining healthy and intact.

Enough planning can ensure a great green travel experience. Nowadays, all types of eco-friendly options are available to visitors who are willing to take the time to plan ahead. You can start your green travel by planning to offset your carbon emissions from air flight. Some airlines, like British Airways, offer you the opportunity to offset the carbon footprint of your trip by making a donation based upon your flight plan. These donations are then forwarded to eco-friendly technologies like hydroelectric production or solar production. Such an offset will generally cost you anywhere from $10 to $50 depending on your flight.

The next thing you might want to do while making your green travel plans is to book lodgings at an environmentally friendly hotel or hostel. There are more and more places to stay that will give you green travel options and they can easily be found on the Internet while researching your trip.

Lastly, try to book activities that are more earth friendly.

These are just a few easy ways that you can make your next holiday a green travel experience.

To learn more about ways to go green, save money and help the planet, go to www.FreeTipsForGoingGreen.com and subscribe to receive a FREE email daily containing great green living tips for making your home, office and life greener and more eco friendly. For more details, visit Green Living Tips

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