The best travel companies for booking a sustainable holiday
Green travel doesn’t have to be boring
(Getty)The word “sustainable” gets bandied about a lot as the world eyes up the approaching deadlines to hit global climate targets by 2050.
We often focus on the carbon footprint side of the sustainability coin – but when it comes to travel, it’s just as important to consider the impact our holiday might have on a local community and the surrounding landscape and ecosystems. Where we choose to go and what we do when we get there can have a negative effect or be a force for good, depending on where we direct our tourism spend.
And it seems more and more of us are starting to prioritise positivity in our plans; according to a recent survey conducted by Original Travel, 67 per cent of its clients were planning on travelling “better” post-Covid-19, with 16 per cent wanting to be more mindful about it.
Thankfully, there are a number of travel companies that have been working on balancing the people/planet/profit equation for years, as well as bold new contenders entering the fray. With an emphasis on enriching the experience for both the traveller and the community they’re visiting, reducing the carbon footprint of their businesses and itineraries, and giving back to the environment, these pioneers are creating holidays that come with a real feel-good factor.
Here are some of the best companies for booking an unforgettable trip that gives something back.
Original Travel
In 2020, Original Travel launched a new collection of itineraries entitled “Travel Less, Travel Better” to encourage its clients to make a positive change in the way they explore the world. The collection features philanthropic holidays, responsible travel, slow travel, rail and road trips and sabbatical itineraries.
Original Travel also offsets the carbon footprint of its clients’ and staff’s international flights, plus – in an industry-first – car hire, on-ground transportation and other flights too (even if booked independently). There is no opt-out – this happens automatically with every trip and Original Travel uses a carbon calculator to track the exact mileage travelled. The company offsets through a foundation that is proactively planting mangrove and reinstating forest in Senegal, India, Peru and Indonesia.
Byway
Start-up Byway was conceived and built during the pandemic, with the aim of championing a new type of slow, hyper-personal holiday. All its itineraries are flight-free, transporting travellers by train, boat and bike.
The aim is to build a post-Covid travel industry in which flight-free holidays and sustainable leisure travel are considered totally normal, and to encourage holidaymakers away from the destinations that previously suffered from overtourism, urging them towards lesser-visited places instead.
This vision has just secured the company £100k in funding from Innovate UK's Sustainable Innovation Fund, which invests in groundbreaking clean growth projects to develop new technologies, secure and create new jobs, drive productivity and tackle climate change.
Pura Aventura
In another first, Pura Aventura recently became the first specialist tour operator in the UK to achieve B Corp Certification.
Offering tailor-made active holidays to Spain, Portugal and Latin America since 1999, the company has one of the travel industry’s most ambitious carbon mitigation plans: balancing a carbon mile for every kilometre travelled by a client from their front door and back again. It means Pura Aventura has been balancing 160 per cent of carbon from all travel (road, air, boat or train), irrespective of whether it books the international flights for their clients or not, since July 2019.
The company has also committed 1 per cent of its revenue to fund a rural community development project in Nicaragua which uses carbon credits as a means of funding.
Responsible Travel
Responsible Travel, which celebrates its 20th anniversary this year, has committed to being “nature positive” from “sustainable”. Which means… what exactly? “To fight climate heating, we need to both reduce carbon emissions and support healthy biodiversity,” says the company. “We’re excited about the potential of tourism to help restore nature. So we’ve committed to delivering a biodiversity net gain this decade. And we’ll also be doubling the number of our nature-based trips within three years.”
Other areas of growth include Responsible Travel’s range of flight-free holidays, and its list of accommodation with electric vehicle charging points. It’s also announced an ambitious target of a 55 per cent carbon reduction per customer by 2030 – without offsetting, a particularly impressive feat.
Wild Europe
Wild Europe is a recently launched venture, offering “flight-free travel to Europe’s wildest places”. These luxury, no-fly, “net-beneficial” holidays have itineraries designed around – and directly contributing to – rewilding and nature-based businesses in countries including Slovakia, Poland, Slovenia, Croatia, Bulgaria and Italy.
At the heart of every itinerary is a commitment to keeping the carbon footprint to a minimum and to combating overtourism by introducing visitors to some of the least visited regions in Europe. As part of every booking, clients will not only contribute directly to individual projects, but will be given an annual membership to Mossy Earth, which restores wilderness through rewilding and reforestation projects around the globe.
Intrepid Travel
Intrepid Travel became the world’s largest travel business to be certified B-Corp in 2018. Committed to Science Based Targets, it offsets 125 per cent of emissions and has pledged to reduce this in line with the 1.5°C target outlined in the Paris Agreement, transitioning to 100 per cent renewable energy for its offices by 2025 and for its trips by 2030.
Intrepid also works with local NGOs to develop new tourism experiences which provide a sustainable livelihood for communities in remote locations where there’s often a lack of economic opportunity.
Much Better Adventures
Much Better Adventures was founded with the goal of “building a global travel company that could play a significant role in the fight to protect the world’s wild places”. Some 5 per cent of revenues support conservation projects and the families of local guides who have been badly affected by the pandemic; this year, the brand became the first international travel company to add carbon footprint labels to all its trips, enabling customers to compare when choosing their holiday. The business has also said it will use the data to “help inform further carbon reduction plans and plant enough trees to suck at least twice the carbon out of the atmosphere than has been emitted by their trips since 2016.”
Charitable Travel
By booking through new social enterprise travel agency Charitable Travel, holidaymakers can donate 5 per cent of their holiday price to a UK registered charity of their choice – at no extra cost.
This unique not-for-private-profit travel retailer says its aim is to ensure “travel is a force for good, providing customers with the opportunity to book a holiday to anywhere in the world and donate a proportion of the holiday price to a UK registered charity of their choice through a platform partnership with JustGiving.”
Explore Worldwide
Explore has pledged to make all of its trips carbon neutral – reducing the carbon footprint of its tours and offsetting the remaining carbon. The company works with ClimateCare (the highest-ranked B Corp in the UK) for its offsets, selecting a portfolio of projects that have a positive impact on local communities as well as delivering robust carbon reductions.
Explore has also launched a new Animal Protection Policy for 2021, including a new no contact policy: “We won’t be riding on mules or donkeys, and importantly we will commission an independent audit on our experiences so we can be sure that we’re visiting the best places possible,” says the company.
InnTravel
Specialising in slow travel, InnTravel encourages holidaymakers to “discover the lesser-taken path and take your time to enjoy the moment.” As well as offering clients the chance to unwind, taking their time to get to destinations and fully immersing themselves once there, the company also prioritises enriching the regions which feature in their itineraries. InnTravel “almost exclusively” uses local, family-run hotels and other suppliers to support the local economy; makes use of public transport wherever possible; and supports a range of social and environmental projects.
Joro Experiences
This boutique brand is the UK’s first luxury adventure travel company to achieve B Corp status, demonstrating its commitment to reducing its carbon output and working with responsible partners and suppliers.
The company puts together bespoke, immersive trips that draw on the founders’ – an explorer, traveller and former military man turned safari camp manager – experiences of adventuring and exploring. “Much more than just adventure holidays, Joro’s journeys are designed to reflect the passions of their guests and often involve months of planning and background work,” says Joro.
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