The holiday idea was created by the people from Ancient Rome – and it’s become quite a popular choice ever since. Whether we decide to head across the water or somewhere in the UK, we’re always looking forward to our time off. Did you know that the richest Romans would take holidays of up to 2 years?
Our holidays don’t tend to match up against the Romans extravagant 2 yearlong breaks nowadays, more people however, are starting to take up travel adventures more so than ever before. So much so, the Office for National Statistics reported that in 2017 there were 72.8 million visits overseas by UK residents, showing a 3% increase on the previous year. This figure is only set to increase even further after a survey of 25,000 British travelers found that 11% of respondents would like to travel more in the future.
The hospitality and travel sectors trends look to be moving, this has led to a larger increase in alternative holidays. But what does this mean for businesses, holidaymakers and local communities across the globe, you might ask.
Going Green
‘Green holidays’, ‘eco-friendly holidays’ and ‘eco-friendly hotels’ have all shown an upwards pattern in recent months throughout the UK, which has also highlighted that British holidaymakers interest is swaying towards sustainable trips. Along with veganism, flexitarianism and other lifestyle choices, these types of holidays have captured the public’s attention and will likely become the norm for future generations who will be more environmentally conscious.
87% of global travelers say that they want to travel sustainably, according to Booking.com’s Sustainable Travel Report. Looking at the figures, it’s obvious that businesses in travel and hospitality will have to start tapping into the sustainable market. You could argue that sustainable travel is subject to a person’s environmental standpoint, and while this is true, the same report also revealed that 46% of people believe sustainable travel is staying in an eco-friendly or green accommodation.
There are a number of reasons as to why people are starting to look into this sort of accommodation. 40% said that they want to reduce their impact on the environment. On the other hand, 34% said this was to have a locally relevant experience and a further 33% said they wanted to feel good about where they rested.
Among holidaymakers the reasons that people were inspired to travel sustainably varied. Taking in natural sights from previous trips of things such as rain forests and coral reefs were voted by 60% of people. Also, 54% said that they had noticed the visible impact tourism had on places that they themselves had visited, while 47% went on to say that their decision was after seeing the positive impact sustainable tourism had on local communities. Furthermore, 32% said they felt guilty about how their holidays impact the environment.
Holidaymakers are always looking for a good bargain from their package holidays, so for some it could come down to how much a sustainable holidays costs: would it be affordable? As these trips tend to require fine planning and research, they could potentially be more costly than your average trip to Spain. However, 67% of travellers in the report said that they were prepared to spend up to 5% more on their travel to ensure it had a low impact on the environment.
Figures from the same survey showed that 4 out of 10 holiday goers would like there to be an eco-friendly filter. Although this doesn’t seem like a step a lot of travel sites are taking, some have began adding pages to represent these trips and advertise them publicly. As well as this, 32% of people call for an international standard that can identify eco-friendly accommodation.
If travel companies and hotels acknowledge this growing requirement from travelers now, it could keep them ahead of the competition. Hopefully, 2019 will be the year where we see more sustainable trips!
Sustainable Trip Initiatives
Allowing small groups of people to travel to places like Nepal, Bangladesh and India, The Meet the People Tours give the perfect opportunity to find out more about cultural traditions and how this differs around the world. Just like the fair trade products we buy, these trips are organised so that the people living and working in these communities are better off as a result.
Fair trade holiday offers aren’t quite on everyone’s radars at the moment, however they give the opportunity of a learning experience like no other. Holidaymakers can integrate themselves into the communities who are behind the products we frequently buy — such as fair trade vegan chocolate!
This kind of experience will outperform your expectations and the stories will live on for the rest of your life. From visiting development projects and having your ideas of developing countries challenged, you’ll truly feel that you’re making a difference from the moment you arrive to the moment you leave.