It was whereas visiting an Italian metropolis for work that Silvia Ombellini and her husband Simone Riccardi dreamt up the concept to arrange an internet site devoted to sustainable tourism.
Mr Riccardi was working for an Italian college on the time, 10 years in the past, and needed to go to the town of Potenza within the south of the nation for a convention.
The couple say they wished to guide a lodge with good environmental credentials, however that they actually struggled to search out one. “We were looking for sustainable accommodation, but it was not so easy to find online and book,” says Ms Ombellini.
So it sparked the concept for a enterprise – an internet site referred to as Ecobnb, the place individuals can seek for environmentally-friendly lodges, dwelling leases, B&Bs, and different types of lodging.
“We wanted to create a meeting point between eco travellers and accommodation owners investing in a better future,” provides Ms Ombellini.
Today Ecobnb, primarily based in Trento, in northern Italy, lists greater than 3,000 properties worldwide, from a vegan and natural farmhouse in Tuscany, to an eco mountain lodge in Costa Rica.
To characteristic on the location, lodging suppliers should meet not less than 5 of 10 requirements. These are – use 100% renewable power, serve natural or domestically sourced meals, accumulate and reuse rain water, have low consumption lightbulbs, use solar energy to warmth water, see that greater than 80% of waste is recycled, use eco-friendly cleansing merchandise, have water stream reducers fitted, embrace environmentally-friendly structure, and be accessible with no automobile.
However, travellers can filter their search to search out particular pursuits reminiscent of plant-based meals, and electrical automobile charging stations powered by renewable power.
Ms Ombellini says some lodging suppliers supply reductions for friends arriving by bicycle, or these not utilizing a automobile in the course of the journey.
When somebody finds a spot that they want to guide, Ecobnb doesn’t take the fee. Rather it contacts the property, which then emails the individual immediately. Ecobnb makes its cash by charging the venues a month-to-month subscription to listing on its web site.
Ms Ombellini says that 2.8 million travellers now use Ecobnb per 12 months, up from 780,000 in 2018.
“Holidaymakers are rethinking their relationship with planet Earth,” she says. “There is a new awareness, especially in young people, about our responsibility for our future and for the planet.”
Statistics seem to again this up. A research this 12 months discovered that 69% of travellers had been now “actively seeking sustainable travel options”.
In the Netherlands, Conscious Hotels is a sequence of seven eco lodges whose environmental options embrace solely utilizing renewable power and solely shopping for sustainably sourced furnishings, and solely serving vegetarian meals, of which 90% of comes from a 90km (56 mile) radius.
“On the planet side, we have a lifecycle assessment approach to sustainability,” says Conscious Hotels chief govt Marco Lemmers.
“We don’t only focus on climate change, it’s also important to look at the impact on biodiversity, land use and toxins. We take each and every aspect of our hotel business and make every choice sustainable.
“More travellers are placing sustainability into the equation and selecting sustainable choices, as a result of they imagine that they need to do one thing to protect the planet.”
Founded in 2020, flight-free travel company Byway Travel has seen demand for its services grow from 173 bookings in 2021, to 2,200 for this year.
The company, which organises individual trips for people, is also focused on combating over-tourism. For example, it chooses the Italian port city of Trieste for people wanting waterside café culture rather than Venice, which gets far more tourists.
“Our journeys are extra sustainable as a result of they’re flight free,” says Byway Travel founder Cat Jones.
“But additionally as a result of we goal to cut back the local weather influence of over tourism, increase the native economies of all of the fantastic locations in between, and improve the proportion of spend on sustainable services, by prioritising partnerships with native and sustainable companies.”
Marina Novelli, a professor of tourism and international development, says that more in the travel industry are introducing sustainability measures such as solar energy, cold water storage, recycling, and repurposing.
However she says sustainability also should cover employment practices, fair pay, and equality policies.
And, like many other industries, Prof Novelli warns there’s plenty of greenwashing – hotels and other accommodations that like to portray their green credentials, but actually come up short.
To overcome this, she says responsibility lies with the traveller. “I’m pushing again to the patron accountability, as a result of if we preserve asking these query suppliers can be pushed to truly do the suitable factor,” she says.
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“People want to concentrate… and actually analysis earlier than reserving.”
Although Ecobnb is focused on sustainability, how sustainable is it when many people might be flying to arrive at the accommodations it lists?
“The influence of the journey of the flights may be very large,” agrees Ms Ombellini. “We are pushing the staycation mannequin loads, and we are attempting to ask individuals to find their very own nations and to keep away from the flights when it is attainable.”
How optimistic is she about the future of green travel?
“More individuals are all for inexperienced life every single day,” she says. “And now they’re searching for the identical inexperienced selections additionally throughout their holidays.
“These little choices can come together, and we can change things and make something different. We can be the change we want to see in the world.”
