What is low-impact travel?

What is low-impact travel?

Travelling systematically generates an environmental cost, which is why we can't talk about zero-emission travel. However, today there are many ways to drastically reduce the environmental footprint of your trip, without reducing its richness and quality!

A low-impact trip is one that retains all the exhilarating and enriching features of a trip while minimizing its environmental impact.

At ebooqueen, we believe it's possible to meet the challenge of exploring our planet while leaving as little trace behind as possible by improving the quality of our choices.

Decisions with far-reaching repercussions

Before setting off, every traveller has to make choices:

  • Where to go?
  • How?
  • Where to sleep?
  • What to do on site

Factors such as price, simplicity of the booking process, trends on social networks etc. play a key role in our final decision. But what we sometimes forget is that these decisions have a major impact on our planet.

GreenGo's comparison below shows the difference in impact depending on the decisions we make:

(*A Paris-Ushuaia return flight corresponds to a Geneva-Tokyo flight, and a Paris-Briançon train corresponds to a Geneva-Florence train).

By systematically choosing to spend our vacations in faraway destinations, we generate CO2 emissions that explode our annual quota!

As a reminder, the annual CO2 quota that should ideally be respected per person to limit global warming has been set at 2 tonnes. Today, the average Swiss person's carbon footprint is over 11 tonnes per year. (If you're wondering how all this CO2 is distributed, click here).

Source: GreenGo's low-carbon travel guide

(The figures given for flights from Paris are more or less the same for departures from Geneva).

What if the environmental factor was no longer an optional extra or bonus, but a standard?

How do you know if your choices are the right ones? It's a complex question, but fortunately there are now labels and certifications that can help you find out if an accommodation applies sustainable initiatives. Carbon footprint calculators can also help you understand the impact of different modes of transport. The world of tourism is in full transition, and is increasingly enabling travellers to understand their impact and make more eco-responsible choices.

Even so, organizing a low-impact trip still takes more time and effort than booking a low-cost flight with a few clicks.

In response to this imbalance, at ebooqueen we take the view that environmental impact is the first factor to be taken into account.

Based on this criterion, our team then does its utmost to create fun, authentic and original stays.

The aim is to offer travelers a simple, youthful platform for accessing enriching, high-quality, low-impact travel offers as quickly as on EasyJet or Booking.com.

How can you reduce the impact of your trip?

  1. The destination
    • Travel shorter distances and choose destinations accessible by soft mobility
    • Choose off-season periods to avoid mass tourism
  2. Transportation
    • Take the train or bike instead.
    • Walk, take public transport or use bicycles once you're there.
  3. Accommodation
  4. The activities
    • Reduce meat consumption, eat local and seasonal produce
    • Focus on local cultural activities
    • Avoid entertainment that requires fuel (motorcycles, quad bikes, jet-skis, etc.).
    • Focus on local, sustainable businesses

Disclaimer:

Please note: We have nothing against a trip to Japan or Australia, and there's absolutely no shame in visiting Mexico, South Africa or New Zealand!

We simply think it's important to be aware of the amount of CO2 generated by this type of travel, and to regulate your consumption accordingly.

We haven't created this project with the aim of abolishing or demonizing air travel, and we're well aware that some journeys require considerable means (family reunions, personal projects, childhood dreams... all good reasons!).

This project exists to bring a new approach to travel and enable travelers to access attractive low-impact offers whenever they want, because we believe that in this day and age, it's imperative to be able to make that choice with ease.

We believe it's time to live in a world where responsible, sustainable consumption is encouraged and normalized.

In this way, we can better regulate our environmental footprint and continue to explore our planet while ensuring its sustainability.

Here's some advice in case you're flying:

  • Think about the length of your stay (if you're going far away, stay long!)
  • Regulate the frequency of your flights (1 long trip every 3-4 years)
  • Consider carbon offsetting your flight (by doing a little research)
  • Try to only fly when travelling outside Europe (as most European cities are accessible by train!).

Published by Natacha