Sustainable travelling

11 July 2022

Everyone loves discovering new places and cultures. Many of us are fortunate enough to have the opportunity to travel and enjoy faraway lands. As digital nomads who travel frequently, we need to take responsibility for the print we leave on the environment and should be advocating more sustainable travel.

Be a slow traveler

One way you can start being more sustainable towards the environment is by staying longer in your chosen destination. According to the United Nations, international travel is booming. From 2000 to 2015, the amount of people traveling the world has almost doubled (see the UNWTO’s 2016 report here). Now nearly 1.2 billion people a year board an international flight. This number is set to increase to 1.8 billion by 2030. Not surprisingly, the travel and tourism industry accounts for up to 10.2% of the global GDP ($7 trillion!).

We became witnesses to how much carbon footprint we were leaving when the pandemic hit, and all travel was stopped. Now that we are slowly returning to what was normal, we must make the conscious decision to be eco-friendlier.

Stay in locally-owned accommodation

We all know that most of the money spent on tourism actually goes to big corporations. That can be fixed by supporting more local businesses as much as we can when travelling.

When looking for accommodation, check if it’s committed to any sustainability initiatives.

Our WN Lab hotel is a great option for co-living and coworking. We value our environment and that is why most of our décor is upcycled or homemade by locals all over the world. We love to showcase different cultures.

There are also quite a lot of places around the Lab where you can shop and eat locally to have an even bigger impact on the environment. Avoid imported foods and international food chains. That would be easy to do in Bulgaria as we value local markets and businesses.

Travel Packing

You can think that your baggage doesn’t affect the eco system in any way, but you would be mistaken. Starting off by packing lighter can make all the difference because the plane’s fuel consumption is greater if the baggage is heavier. As well as taking reusable bags and containers such as a water bottle and using your own toiletries helps a lot. Hotels won’t have to keep changing theirs and throw away so much plastic.

The responsibility of travelling more sustainable does not need to fall only on the traveler but also on the airlines, accommodation, and local governments. We hope this list to inspire you to choose an eco-friendlier way to travel and share with your friends and family the experiences you had.

Travel Packing

You can think that your baggage doesn’t affect the eco system in any way, but you would be mistaken. Starting off by packing lighter can make all the difference because the plane’s fuel consumption is greater if the baggage is heavier. As well as taking reusable bags and containers such as a water bottle and using your own toiletries helps a lot. Hotels won’t have to keep changing theirs and throw away so much plastic.

The responsibility of travelling more sustainable does not need to fall only on the traveler but also on the airlines, accommodation, and local governments. We hope this list to inspire you to choose an eco-friendlier way to travel and share with your friends and family the experiences you had.