Exclusive
The Rethinkers podcast with Katrina Ridley: How to have a more sustainable holiday this summer
12 May 2022, 12:17 | Updated: 12 May 2022, 12:18
The Rethinkers podcast with Katrina Ridley: Listen to new episodes now on Global Player.
Listen to this article
Loading audio...
Responsible and sustainable tourism is on the rise, with people increasingly wanting to leave a smaller footprint on the planet.
But while you might picture an eco-holiday as a camping trip half an hour from your house, there are plenty of ways you can see the world and also support positive change.
Listen to The Rethinkers now on Global Player.
For the ninth episode of her podcast The Rethinkers, Katrina Ridley was joined by writer, filmmaker and founder of the award-winning Green Traveller website – Richard Hammond.
Richard has given his simple tips on how we can all start making our holidays less impactful on the environment.
How to have a more sustainable holiday this year
What are you packing?
As well as carefully planning your holiday outfits, Richard also suggests removing all single use plastic from your luggage.
He explained: “Reduce taking single use plastic, it can be as simple as packing a refillable water bottle.
“A lot of countries don’t have facilities to deal with single use plastic so you can also take off plastic wrapping from items.”
How will you get there?
With flying having the biggest impact on the environment, Richard suggests you could swap an airplane for the train.
He said: “The high-speed train systems in Europe is amazing.
“A lot of investment went into it pre pandemic, there are sleeper trains where you can travel long distances to the far corners of Europe.
“I went to Barcelona in a day, I got the train at 7am and was there by 7pm, also the holiday starts as soon as you leave your house.”
Where will you stay?
Richard asks travellers to be more aware of the hotels they are choosing when planning a holiday.
There are so many options now when it comes to more sustainable businesses, and companies such as Booking.com flag up eco certified hotels in search results so the work is done for you.
He added: “Try to use peer reviewed websites and see what your friends are saying on social media when you’re looking for green hotels.”
For more about Richard and details on his new book ‘The Green Traveller’ checkout: www.greentraveller.co.uk.
