By Georgina Davies, Communications Manager, The Travel Foundation

‘Responsible’, ‘green’, ‘low-carbon’, ‘slow’ - all words that are being used to describe the growing trend for itineraries that do less harm to the environment and that consider the needs of local communities.  Such itineraries are a triple win for destinations, reducing carbon emissions, creating local benefits, and offering visitors attractive, unique experiences.  They might include lower carbon transport (e.g. internal transfers by train, not plane), hotels that have reduced their carbon emissions and are supporting the local community, locally sourced food and drink, and excursions that take visitors off the beaten path.  Nelson Tasman’s four-day light footprint itinerary is a good example. In their words, “travelling responsibly doesn’t mean missing out on delectable cuisine, extraordinary experiences, spectacular scenery, and comfortable accommodation.”

Lower impact, or responsible itineraries are on the rise, fuelled by a growing interest amongst travellers for experiences that don’t harm the planet and have a more positive impact on the place they’re visiting. Byway, a flight-free travel platform creating customisable travel and accommodation packages, is at the forefront of this trend. Paul Conroy from Byway said, “Since Byway launched in March 2020, demand for flight-free travel has dramatically increased. In this past year we have experienced 2.5 times year on year growth.”

Yet, despite a growing interest in sustainable tourism experiences, many travellers find it difficult to make better choices. Expedia Group’s global research in 2022 found that although 90% of consumers look for sustainable options when booking, 70% feel overwhelmed with navigating options.  By creating and signposting responsible itineraries, destinations can respond to this challenge.  For example, Visit Norway’s website includes a section dedicated to making better choices when you travel, including suggested itineraries, eco-certified hotels, train journeys, top outdoor activities, and more.  Helsinki has a similar page on their website and a ‘Think Sustainably’ service, which helps visitors and locals to choose more sustainable ways to enjoy the city.  The service is based on carefully selected criteria to which the businesses included on the website sign up. Taking a slightly different approach, Copenhagen launched a new initiative this summer to reward visitors who take climate-friendly actions, ranging from a free lunch to a kayak tour in return for actions such as biking instead of driving and helping to collect litter.

As well as enabling visitors to make better choices, you can also build this approach into each aspect of the trip, making it the default. The Travel Foundation is supporting an innovative partnership between VisitScotland and The Travel Corporation (TTC) which leverages the collective strengths of the two organisations to create experiences and itineraries which aim to have a positive social or environmental impact on communities and those who experience them. Lyn Donnelly, VisitScotland’s Senior Responsible Tourism Manager said “Tourism is a force for good and this project represents a huge opportunity to influence and drive change with businesses, visitors, and destinations. We know that transitioning to a low carbon economy is a challenge, and not something that we can do alone, and that’s why collaboration is so important. With TTC, we have committed to share learnings, insights, and support each other in accelerating change. We’re also working with Tourism Cares to profile trade-ready, responsible tourism experiences in Scotland on their Meaningful Travel Map.” 

The benefits of creating these kinds of itineraries and experiences are numerous – for your organisation, for the place, for local communities, and for the visitor.  They can support efforts to attract new visitors, address seasonality, promote geographical spread, meet climate action targets, spread the economic benefits of tourism, and enhance reputation and brand appeal.  Paul Conroy from Byway added, “We design trips to minimise time in tourist hotspots and to showcase lesser-visited destinations. Plus, we have also created desirable holidays for shoulder season and winter to help combat overtourism by spreading out visitors throughout the year. All this is paying off as we get really lovely post-trip feedback: it's wonderful to see that people are travelling this way not just because they feel they should, but because it's thoroughly enjoyable.”

Slower, lower impact itineraries open up a host of new opportunities to connect visitors with people and place, for example, train journeys that allow you to experience the landscape, walking or cycling excursions that immerse you in nature, or tours where you can sample local delicacies.  Travel Oregon stresses this benefit on its website, highlighting that their Electric Byway itineraries are a great way to see the surrounding countryside.  Through such itineraries you can highlight key attributes of your brand and respond to the interests and motivations of your visitors, whether that’s local food and drink, culture and arts, wellness, stunning scenery etc.  Lyn Donnelly from VisitScotland said. “We know our visitors are looking for authentic experiences when they come to Scotland. They want to engage with communities and experience everything that makes Scotland so unique. We encourage our visitors to slow down, enjoy our landscapes, our cities and our culture, helping to protect Scotland’s natural and cultural heritage for future generations.”

The way that destinations respond to the urgent need to reduce tourism’s impact on the environment and local communities will be critical to their success in the future – to protect their product, attract customers and meet regulatory requirements.  Creating itineraries that support your visitors to make better choices while having a fantastic experience is a step in the right direction. 

Five tips for creating a responsible, low-impact itinerary:

In reality, no itinerary is going to be perfect. It’s about making that intentional effort to create a better, lower impact experience that counts. Here are a few tips to get you started.

• Consider how the visitor’s carbon footprint can be minimised, how waste and water-use can be reduced, how habitats and wildlife can be protected and restored, and how local communities can benefit – across every element of the experience. Understand where the bigger impacts lie and be sure to prioritise these – but recognise that to be convincing, all aspects need consideration. For example, visitors who travel on an electric-powered bus will not be impressed if they are handed refreshments wrapped in mountains of single-use plastic.
• When deciding what criteria to use, consider creating some red lines - for example, this might include no internal flights within the destination.  Then add some criteria that are preferable - for example, a plant-based food option on the menu. 
• Work with the supply chain within your destinations and with your neighbouring destinations to open up new opportunities and to share the benefits.
• Use your new itineraries to enhance your place narrative, shining a light on brilliant people and authentic stories, such as conservation efforts or new scientific solutions, and connecting with representatives from lesser-heard communities.  
• Take care to market your itinerary appropriately and not to over promise or fall foul of green washing. Be open and transparent about how you have put the itinerary together.