Sustainable Travel Tips For Students

Have you heard of the term ‘over-tourism’? This relatively new term defines the phenomenon of having too many tourists visiting historically and culturally significant places simultaneously, resulting in overcrowding, poor quality of life for the locals and massive unpleasant environmental impacts.

Sustainable tourism has increased speed to decrease the impact of such a concerning issue. Many people aim to become sustainable travellers by following sustainable travel tips offered by experts and trying their best to minimise the environmental effects. 

So, let’s find out more about sustainable travel tips anyone can follow easily! 

Why is Sustainable Travel Essential? 

Just like living sustainably, sustainable travel is crucial since it helps create a balance between tourism and the conservation of the environment. The environment, locals, and sustainable travellers can also benefit from these practices. Here are some reasons why following sustainable travel tips is important: 

1. Minimises impact on the environment
2. Helps the local economy 
3. Ensures better quality of life and development for the locals 
4. Helps conserve the local flora and fauna 
5. Helps you minimise your carbon footprint 
6. Offers tourists a more rich and authentic travel experience
7. Fits into your budget better 

9 Tips to Being a Sustainable Traveller 

Concerned about your environment and this planet? In times when global tourism has started to impact the environment negatively, you as a sustainable traveller can still take some measures to make sure you are being mindful about the environment. Here are some sustainable travel tips that you can follow to help conserve the environment while also exploring it to the fullest:

1. Book Sustainable Living Options 

With the popularisation of sustainable travelling and the climate crisis consciousness, many companies are investing significantly in sustainable practices. One of the most significant sustainable travel tips is to ensure you invest your money into such sustainable companies. However, remember to research so you don’t go for hotels with mere surface-level sustainability tags but rather find hotels that give back to the local communities. Among all practices, legit sustainable hotels may have features like solar-powered appliances, low-pressure water, meals made from local produce, eco-friendly lighting, etc. 

2. Book a Shared Airport Transfer

With rising vehicle usage, the levels of air pollution have been rising too. Harmful gases like carbon monoxide and sulfur dioxide contribute to air pollution and climate change. To decrease this environmental impact, many cab services have recently offered carpooling options for their passengers. Sustainable travellers can opt for carpooling when it comes to booking airport transfers. So, another one of the most useful sustainable travel tips is to book a shared airport transfer so you can avail yourself of the perks of a cab while also decreasing your carbon footprint. 

3. Take the Bus and Train Wherever Possible 

Public transport is another popular and effective way of collectively decreasing vehicle-caused pollutants. While it may not always be feasible, you can still try to take the bus and train wherever possible. So, here’s another one of the sustainable travel tips; take the bus. Especially if you are vacationing or on an international trip, trains and buses can be great options for navigating around your city. Using public transport can be especially beneficial since it lets you mingle with the local people, and it fits right into the budget when you aim to be a sustainable traveller. 

4. Choose Sustainable Airlines

Air travel is one of the biggest causes of environmental deterioration. Aviation contributes to a total of 2.5% of global carbon emissions. However, it is almost unavoidable to take a flight when you are travelling internationally. Even domestically, avoiding air travel may not be a feasible option sometimes. Invest your time in finding more eco-friendly airlines to decrease your carbon footprint. Many airlines these days have started to invest heavily in biofuels. So, another one of the most effective sustainable travel tips will be to choose these sustainable airlines. 

5. Reduce your Plastic Litter

If you are looking to be a sustainable traveller, the most important and bare minimum thing you can do is to reduce your plastic litter. Plastic waste is one of the biggest problems countries with high tourism rates face. While it may be easier for developed countries to handle the situation, follow this specific sustainable travel tip while visiting developing countries. Most of the time, plastic littering done by tourists consists of empty plastic bottles and bags. To cut off on your littering, carry a water bottle you can keep filling rather than mindlessly buying and throwing bottles. Make sure you also dispose of your waste properly in designated trash bins.  

6. Shop Locally on the Trip 

Another one of the most doable sustainable travel tips is to go local while shopping on your trip. As a sustainable traveller, you may want to buy souvenirs and gifts for your friends and family. This can be a great opportunity to give back to the local communities and decrease the impact of the product on the environment. The economic support that the local communities get when you shop locally rather than handing your money over to big corporations can help them thrive. Similarly, try to eat as much locally as possible. Eating from bigger food chains adds to your contribution to the negative environmental impacts while local eatery owners make no profits. Eating locally is a great sustainable travel tip that can also help you explore local flavours and culture more closely. 

7. Respect Local Culture and Customs 

When wanting to be a sustainable traveller, one thing that cannot be overlooked is the importance of respecting the local culture and customs. This includes being respectful towards the locals and their privacy as well. Be curious but don’t be intrusive. Don’t post negative things about their culture on social media if you don’t fully understand it and have no historical context. You can also learn their language basics to pay respects and mingle with the locals. These can be basic phrases like hello, thank you, please, and goodbye that you can use to interact with locals. 

8. Leave a Minimal Trace of Your Visits

This tip, out of all the sustainable travel tips, is very important if you visit exotic, less-known locations. Unchartered locations like lakes, rivers, islands, and forest trails may be very pristine and thus have a well-balanced ecosystem for different organisms. However, with interference from human beings, these ecosystems might get destroyed. Especially with plastic litter, these balanced ecosystems of various flora and fauna may be negatively impacted. Thus, make sure to leave as little trace of your visit. A sustainable traveller will carry the trash back with them and refrain from littering organic or inorganic trash! Avoid damaging the flora by picking flowers, leaves, fruits, or mushrooms. 

9. Respect the Flora and Fauna

If you visit a place with rich botanical resources and wildlife, you must be careful and respectful to preserve the environmental balance. When encountering any exotic animal you haven’t seen, be respectful and keep your distance. Do not feed the wild animals or try to pet them if you don’t know about them. As many animal and plant species worldwide are becoming endangered and extinct, showing respect to the flora and fauna of the place you’re visiting is one of the most important sustainable travel tips to follow.

Inevitably, tourism will always have some impact on the environment and the locals. But banning tourism altogether cannot be a feasible solution to this concern; however, we can follow these sustainable travel tips and decrease the negative impact while fostering space for more positive impacts. So, pack your bags and explore the world, but do so responsibly!