Unlock the secrets of responsible travel with Holly Tuppen’s expert insights. In this guide, discover practical tips and sustainable strategies for eco-conscious exploration.
From budget-friendly options to luxury escapes, learn how to travel responsibly while minimizing your carbon footprint and maximizing your positive impact on the planet.
Eco Adventures: How to Travel Responsibly with Holly Tuppen
Holly Tuppen travelled worldwide in 2008, using every mode of transportation to save air travel. Tuppen had drawn a series of potential hiking and cycling routes on a giant wall map, first developed over a 20-month solo expedition. We began to explore long train journeys, sailing and cargo ships, and long walking routes.
Today, Tuppen has worked as a sustainable travel consultant for companies such as Exodus and Long Run. She also writes about travel, authoring two books, Sustainable Travel and Slow Travel Family Breaks. However, during that worldwide trip, she began to understand how much slow travel benefited the places she visited while also reducing her carbon footprint.
However, the idea of eco-friendly travel is not new – the term “ecotourism” first appeared in the 1980s. The US-based Center for Responsible Travel, founded in 2003, has recently gone mainstream.
According to Tuppen, “This has accelerated especially since the pandemic. When I proposed articles to editors in the past, they would simply respond, “We don’t cover sustainable travel.”
Additionally, Tuppen admits that travellers can find it confusing to sort through the abundance of new and diverse terminology (such as environmental, sustainable, responsible, slow, nature-positive, positive-impact and regenerative, to mention a few) might seem like one.
The needs of the people and the areas we go to are always changing, so I think it will keep changing, she says. We have moved beyond trying to minimize our impact and keep things as they are. We should consider how we can have a positive impact on the places we visit. In this context, words like “regenerative” have become relevant.
According to Tuppen, expecting that every holiday will have a significant impact on the places we visit is impractical. “There is no one-size-fits-all approach to sustainable travel,” he argues. “It’s about making informed decisions, like having a menu of options in your mind.”
If you know that your flight will result in a large carbon footprint, you might want to think about how to use your money to help local people or environmental initiatives when you get there or to purchase something locally. How can it be done for? Try to eat sustainably produced products.
Many travellers don’t associate affordable travel with sustainable travel, but according to Tuppen, there are many misconceptions about the expenses associated with it. “It’s not always as expensive as the travel industry makes us think,” she insists.
Shoestring travel is generally a more environmentally friendly alternative to traditional backpacking. The idea that luxury travel must be more expensive to be sustainable arises when one indulges in it.
Yet, according to Tuppen, the eco-friendly vacation options we learn about – such as staying in a jungle eco-lodge or watching wildlife – require money set aside to attract the attention of public relations firms and the media. As she explains in Slow Family Breaks, there are plenty of smaller, more eco-friendly travel experiences and experience accommodation options.
She explains, “We found that by switching from the very expensive Eurostar to the ferry to Dieppe and starting our train journey from there instead of Paris, we could save almost £1,000 when travelling by land as a family of four.”
Although Tuppen believes it’s easier than you might imagine, budget-friendly sustainable travel may require a little more preparation. “Sailing across the oceans is undoubtedly a wonderful experience, but it is not as difficult as most people might think.”
Conclusion
As we conclude this journey with Holly Tuppen’s wisdom, remember: that responsible travel is a commitment to our planet and its people. By embracing eco-conscious practices and making informed choices, we shape a more sustainable future. Let ‘How to travel responsibly’ guide your path towards transformative and meaningful adventures.
