India is facing problem of tourism because all the tourist places has been shut down because of covid-19 corona. Soon the country India will start issuing new Visas
Rajasthan will be the safest corona Safe state and Jaipur is the safest city.
Https://Guideofrajasthan.blogspot.com
so very sad that the venerable Thomas Cook agency has gone out of business altogether, it sounds like it was a fabulous resource.
Those are some great tips, and if I would also chime in, I would suggest to use www.wander.am which allows you to search by your budget, rather than try to find the needle, it narrows your haystack.
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Grat article...our boutique B&B on the Coast of NC (Southern Outer Banks) is the only NC Green Travlel Certified lodging in our area. We are very proud and have worked diligently to ensure we protect Mother Earth, our beautiful Crystal Coast, support sustainable menus and buy local... helping our small family owned farms and fishing/seafood industries here in Carteret County. It's not difficult to support these values AND provide phenomenal guest services and delicious dishes! Hoping more and more in the hospitality industry will join the movement. InnonTurner.com :)
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Many examples of how this article misses the mark, but it hits in general. People are going to travel, so it is more about reduction, not elimination, and how options can save money as well as carbon, as an example.
In our industry, RV Rental, it's definitely about reduction vs. elimination. Our goal is reduction via a "delivered RV rentals" model: Do you need to drive a big gas guzzling box to your destination, or can you drive your small car and have the RV delivered from it's local storage facility that is near your destination?
Changing the mindset of travelers by introducing options in this tiny niche travel market can clearly have an impact when you consider 6 mpg transportation (RV) vs. 40mpg travel (economy car). It doesn't always make sense, but in many cases it does. The traveler just doesn't realize there are options to save money and carbon.
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Only a few sentences on transport in the article - and that's the biggest factor making travel unsustainable. There are some forms of transport which produce way more CO2 than others, namely cruise ships and airplanes. Best to avoid this if possible. That's not an option everywhere, but in regions like Europe and East Asia train travel is the better alternative.
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It's interesting the comments here are so black and white: sustainable tourism is an oxymoron. Staying home isn't the flip side to this argument. People are going to travel, so why not educate them on how to leave a smaller footprint? Aside from the benefits of cross-cultural experiences, many destinations rely on tourism. If we were to stop traveling it wouldn't positively impact those places. And why does flying give us permission to leave the a/c running and get new towels every day? One doesn't preclude the other. This article isn't denying jet fuel is a major contributor to greenhouse gases; it's saying there are things we can all do when we travel to reduce our impact. We can educate ourselves and choose accommodations that make an effort toward environmental sustainability. We can choose to eat in local restaurants and buy locally-made goods. We can choose local guides and keep our money within the community. It doesn't have to be all or nothing. We can enjoy the privilege and benefits of travel AND be conscious about how we do it.
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All the unwashed towels in the world won't make up for one jet flight in terms of un-renewable resource use. Travel, except by bike, horse, foot or camel is a luxury and uses lots of carbon. If you're really worried about the planet, don't do it, and especially don't assuage your guilt by staying somewhere with indoor plumbing and eco- in the name.
Note that the article mentions that the staff trained by one eco-friendly hotel chain goes on to open other hotels, ultimately turning a natural area that's hyped to attract tourists into a tropical simulacrum of Miami Beach.
All of which is small potatoes compared to the 42 million acres of Malaysian rainforest (and who knows how many species made extinct) converted to oil palm plantations in order to make french fries vegetarian and guilt-free.
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When did 'sustainable' come to mean just 'sustainable for humans?' Volunteering and staying in outer boros is great, but it has nothing to do with sustaining everything else that lives on the planet...
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The article misses 2 important points: Flying to far-flung locations is not "sustainable"—if one wants a small footprint, walk, bicycle, take the train, and stay close to home, visiting nearby, novel places. And, eschewing products of the meat and dairy industry that's destroying the planet is compulsory if we want to claim sustainability.
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There is no such thing as "sustainable travel'. Transportation is one of the biggest contributors to global warming. If you fly anywhere it isn't sustainable. You want a sustainable vacation? Go somewhere you can get to by walking or bike.
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Low bar. Yes, if you're lucky enough to travel please don't leave trash behind. In summary, don't be a tourist, be a traveler. Hotels, especially beach hotels, have more environmental impacts then their energy efficiency and marginal job creation.
It's great to remind people to use reusables, but this still sounds like an elitist obnoxious tourist guide- even if the new trend is using terms like sustainability.
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Staying on the outskirts of a popular destination can involve irritating amounts of commute time. But what about going to smaller, less known destinations? Barcelona isn't the only university town in Spain, for instance. Salamanca is, in my opinion, far more beautiful-- and far more relaxed. Naphlio, Greece is lovely, while Athens, frankly, is not. You can get the flavor of England in York at least as well as in London. And for a romantic French setting, it's hard to beat the old section of Toulouse, the "ville rose" overlooking the river.
Of course, the smaller destinations aren't on the travel companies' "must see" lists. But if all you want is to brag you've been to Big Ben, or the Eiffel Tower, or whatever, you can hide in your basement for a week watching Rick Steves' videos and fake it-- saving a great deal of wear and tear on the environment in the process.
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"A majority of U.S. hotels also have programs that reuse towels and linens." The only problem is that they don't adhere to their program. I have stayed in dozens of hotels, inns and BnBs across the U.S.A over a period of many years (note "grandma"). We always choose the "reuse towel" - carefully following the directions and hanging our towel where it will dry during the day and we can reuse it the following. We have NEVER had a towel left where we can reuse it the next day. Go ahead NYTimes, follow up and conduct a stealth towel investigation. You will see that they may have a program that theoretically saves water and energy but the reality is something else....
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Your recyclables also get thrown together with the trash by the room attendant in most hotels. That green-washing thing is a business ploy.
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Hang the "do not disturb" sign on your door and your problem is solved.
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I have asked to reuse towels in several Marriott hotels and have not had a problem
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I thought midway through this article that this was a paid ad by Accor or Thomas Cook. Who thinks that eco huts in Africa are sustainable? Here's an easy litmus test for sustainability: if everyone on the planet did it, would that sustain life on earth? If everyone on the planet drank out of a reusable bottle, flew on an completely full 6-hour flight, and spent a week in a LEED Platinum hotel, would that be sustainable?
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This is just ridiculous. Calling anything that amplifies use of jet travel "sustainable" is simply a marketing device attuned to the ears of the luxury consumer. "Sustainable" is staying in your own place and growing your own food. "Sustainable travel" at the very minimum should mean utilizing means of travel that do not unduly contribute to the already unbearable burden of carbon fuel load. Trains instead of planes is only a start. Wake up NY Times!
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“Airbnb has committed $65,000 to sponsoring a November sustainable tourism conference in Jamaica,“. Is that’s joke? 65k is what Airbnb spends on a ping pong table in its employee lounges.
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How can you write an article about green tourism and not even mentioned the giant footprint of flying to your recommended destinations? I am absolutely convinced that the average Trump supporter has a smaller carbon footprint than the average liberal. Travel is our entitlement.
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The article spends several paragraphs on the carbon footprint of air travel. Maybe re-read it before indulging in a screed about how liberals are awful human beings.
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Everyone flies over long distances. Trump supporters are always telling us that wind, solar, wave power are ridiculous, that only more hydrocarbon fuel burning will make America great again. And I would quibble that you are "convinced." That involves facts and proof. No, more likely you're *persuaded* by emotional appeals.
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The article spends two paragraphs on air travel under the section "Consider a Tour Operator". Flying in a full plane is certainly better than flying in a half-empty plane. But real eco-friendly travel means not flying at all. Of course that limits where you can go and how long it takes you to get there. But worrying about the carbon footprint from cleaning laundry in a hotel after a ten hour plane flight is ridiculous.
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This publication has a travel branch that sells cruise trips. Are they scrutinizing their own “products” as well? I don't know what the author is trying to convey in this article. Opulent eco-travel? Infinity Pool? Product? Cost Savings - who loses there? The corporate providers or the residents of these destinations? If Costa Rica was replaced with California in the text, does this notion still apply? So the idea that sustainable travel does not create enough jobs and is therefore (what, exactly?) applies to whom and where? Only large multi-national corporations can infiltrate “destinations” we call home to save the planet? Using a preexisting unsustainable business model to marginalize grassroots efforts to protect cultural and natural heritage. Good show.
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blah-blah-blah.. Once you step on that jet you've just failed the sustainability test. Our common global atmosphere cannot support all the CO2 and other greenhouse gases...
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Gorilla trekking in Uganda is NOT sustainable -- that is if you are a gay man. The president of Uganda promotes throwing gay men off the rooftops. The country is ranked by Transparency International as one of the most corrupt (#125 out of 176). Their Anti-Homosexuality Bill broadens criminalization of same-sex relations and introduces the death penalty.
Sustainability MUST take into account more than LEED ratings.
The Mountain Gorillas are accessible from Rwanda on the other side of the volcanic mountains. Not only has Rwanda aggressively advanced human rights concerns following the 1984 genocide, but they are addressing environmental issues. Plastic Bags are outlawed in Rwanda -- and the streets and fields are remarkably clean.
Sustainable Gorilla Trekking is okay -- just NOT in Uganda!
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How about something on mass tourism and sustainability? Tourism that surpasses a certain threshold has fundamentally damaged the character and charm of many places. Many European cities are attempting to enact measures to curtail mass tourism by introducing laws against Airbnb and cruise ships, for instance.
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The concept of sustainability implies that human society lives within the carrying capacity of the planet. Because of our exploitation of the one time gift of finite fossil fuels, we are living in a world of overshoot. No amount of verbal hocus-pocus can turn the tourism industry,especially with a purported increase in just three years of 400,000,000 tourist visits, into a sustainable enterprise. That number alone would overwhelm the small suggestions that Lucas makes. If more and more people are flying and driving around the planet, it's obvious that copious amounts of energy will be used. That's why sustainable growth is a contradiction in terms.
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"leftover branches and stumps from timber harvests" all too often translates into biomass where forests end up being chipped and exported. That's a huge scam. I'm not saying this is that, but the trouble with burning waste is that when the waste runs out there's a market. The European Union, unfortunately, identified this as an environmentally positive form of fuel, but it's way down there with low-grade coal (see Drax in the UK).
If it burns, it's fossil. The accounting lends itself to trickery and exploitation. All this is giving me a very dark view of our ability to rise to the best of our potential.
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Sustainable tourism is an oxymoron.
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You missed the bit about one category of tourism that involves volunteering to help people. In any case, blanket condemnation leads to people tuning out rather than working on solutions.
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Sustainable travel begins with the traveller. Buying carbon offsets for flights and other modes, asking that towels not be replaced, being conscious of resources and waste in general... Thank you for this exploration, and especially for clarifying the concept, i.e. sustainable travel is not simply something that super eco-conscious or rich people can do, it is a way of looking at the world.
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I love the illustrations in this, props to herr Kugler. The first is of a Laotian slow boat that will take you down the Mekong from northern Laos to the enchanting Luang Prabang over the course of two days, a highlight for us during a 4-week visit. I'd add to the article bring cotton or nylon shopping bags with you and decline plastic bags when travelling. Their use is particularly heavy in SE Asia, it's very disturbing.
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The illustration of the gantries at Long Island City, with (my!) building, mark the unique confluence of transportation in the area; Long Island Railroad stop, two ferries, reaching to Red Hook, Brooklyn and Astoria, Queens, and a close by subway with one stop to Grand Central. Perversely, the two smaller hotels for tourists in the area are a hike or cab ride away. And Airbnb is forbidden in all the buildings so well drawn. Not the bargain proposed, or supposes.
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Yes! Reject ALL plastic water bottles politely, yet firmly.
No one really wants them. They just take them because they are offered.
Stop the madness.
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I could not agree more...we stopped using plastic bottles for guest waters easily and economically but providing beautiful glass carafes with filtered water for our guests daily. We do not offer straws (nor artificial sweeteners for that matter but that another topic), we buy local helping to keep our carbon footprint down while supporting our county farms and fisheries (we are fortunate to be able to bike to local markets and small family owned grocery stores). It's not a perfect solution but we feel strongly that striving to make a difference, is the right thing to do...
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