Nowadays 73% of travelers prefers an eco-sustainable hotel rather than a traditional one. Booking.com says the eco-travel sector is growing up all over the world.
Thanks to all the innovations we are able to keep a green lifestyle and improve it. Why do not we take all these tricks during a travel? Yes, we can save the planet even if we are on holiday. The most incredible thing is the growing number of people choosing the eco-travel.
In its research, Booking.com explains the biggest part of travelers all over the world wants to organize a sustainable travel. In particular, 72% of them believe in the need of eco-sustainability while traveling. Of course, it is age depending: 74% of them are among 45-55 and 71% are considered millennial.
Eco-Travel: a growing aspect
The sustainable facilities are the main eco-travel choice. Their popularity is growing up reaching the 73% of all travelers. In 2016, only the 62% of travelers used to choose an eco-hotel. In the 2017 65%, in the 2018 increased to 68%.
Anyway, what really worries is the number of people that do not know about the ecological quality label for facilities. It is interesting, the request of the 37% of people that are not able to organize an eco-travel but would like to know about some identification standards for eco-sustainability of travel.
Some difficulties
The sector of green tourism has some difficulties to solve. These difficulties are recognized by travelers:
- “I do not know how to make my vacation more sustainable” (37% of interviewed people)
- “Other non-sustainable travels’ offers are more convenient” (34%)
- “Extra expenses of a sustainable journey are too high for me” (36%)
- “I want to understand what I can do to improve the my sustainability on holiday” (50% the most encouraging data).
Around the half of interviewed people is conscious of the difficulty to keep an eco-standard on vacation. But the 31% of them admit they do not want to worry about ecology while on vacation.
However, a green travel is not so hard to organize. 52% of tourists says they use to walk on foot, or by bike, or follow some trekking hikes. Interesting is the number of people that are looking for a new kind of authentic experiences, preferring those giving value to the local culture and economy.
Something is changing
The lockdown period was very hard for the tourist sector. But everything is coming back to normal.
Booking.com research notices the 96% of travelers admit the importance of sustainable travel, and the 76% wants to make more sustainable choices in future.
An interesting aspect is the number of people that associate the green tourism to the reduction of consumption and recycle of plastic.
The research is useful to understand what can get better in the eco-travel sector. The 39% of interviewed people say they are not able to find new sustainable options.
What tourists want
To sum up, most of the respondents choose three main aspects:
- The choice of an eco-sustainable accommodation
- Be a careful traveler
- Try to make a plastic-free vacation
1. Eco-Friendly Hotels
The eco-sustainable accommodations reached a great level of interest around 74% of people.
Furthermore, 97% of people interviewed affirmed they want to choose an ecologic hotel in future.
A useful tool could be an ecologic quality label to reassure tourists for the right choice.
Several initiatives work for this purpose, Ecobnb is an example of it. We are trying to create a universal labeling to ensure accommodation reliability and sustainability. The purpose is to highlight the green practices such as: waste disposal, water usage or energy saving.
2. A new traveler
We do not have to underestimate the travelers’ sustainable choices. one of them can involve less known destinations avoiding the overcrowding in the most common ones.
Another, the preference of different transports. Around 47% of people in the last year chose to move by train rather than by car.
3. A plastic-free world
One of the main points of green tourism is the plastic-free. It is noted that most of the accommodations that avoid single-use plastic seems to be very important for travelers.
One in five travelers, considers the idea of sustainable travel to the reduction of plastic use, and half of them admit using a reusable bottle for the trip. Some of the respondents noticed many facilities do not allow guests to keep green practices during the vacation.
Thanks to this research we can see some improvement in green tourism. There is a long way to go, but the planet will breathe again thanks to us.
Cover photo by jarekgrafik on pixabay
