The holiday season has begun. But flying puts a strain on the climate, and in some places the working conditions in tourism are poor. How can you travel more sustainably?
Wish and reality diverge: According to a study, half of Germans think it is important to pay attention to ecological and social consequences when traveling on holiday.
When booking, however, the topic of sustainability often takes a back seat: according to the Reiseanalyse 2023, more than 40 percent use the plane for longer trips.
Flying less is the only option
If you want to travel sustainably, you will encounter the biggest problem here: Actually, you would have to do without flying. Because flying climate-neutral – according to experts, that is not possible today or in the foreseeable future. A lot of research is being done into propelling aircraft with hydrogen, artificial kerosene or electrically.
Stefan Gössling, professor of tourism at Linné University in Sweden, is very skeptical. “At the moment everything is hypothetical. We have big disadvantages with every variant,” he explains in the tagesschau future podcast “let’s assume”. Even with compensation payments, the negative climate effects of flying cannot be compensated for. So the only option left is to fly less.
This is exactly what Anna Brockmöller and Yannik Roth try to pay attention to, who are currently fulfilling a lifelong dream: They are on a world tour and blog about it. They have been on the road for ten months and have just arrived in their tenth country – but have only flown twice: to their first destination in Asia and most recently from Asia to Canada.
That limited the selection of countries overall, the two explain in the tagesschau future podcast. Instead, they try to stay in one region for a long time after a flight and mainly use the train and bus there.
Travel without harming the environment and climate
There is more to sustainability: the author Michaela Harfst cannot recommend overcrowded tourism magnets such as Venice or Insta hotspots such as the Eibsee in Bavaria. She has been researching the subject for more than ten years. From their point of view, one basic rule is: mass tourism cannot be sustainable. The ideal case would be if the travelers were spread out better and didn’t all go to the same place at the same time. For many who are tied to the school holidays, this is unlikely to be an option.
In principle, Michaela Harfst is certain that you can travel sustainably in different price ranges: “Everything is possible, from campsites to luxury resorts.” Maybe it won’t be a wellness hotel with an infinity pool, but an eco-hotel with a natural bathing pond.
social and economic Follow
The economic and social consequences for the people who live in the destination countries are also of central importance. The effects are particularly great for poorer countries – both positive and negative, emphasizes Antje Monshausen, who is responsible for business and sustainability at the “Bread for the World” organization.
Tourism is the main source of foreign exchange for every third emerging and developing country. It is important to actually support the local economy, says Antje Monshausen. Her suggestion is therefore to also visit restaurants in the second row or to book a tour directly with a local guide.
Tourism creates jobs, but not always with good conditions: if the same people are used for check-in, breakfast and dinner for a week, it could violate labor law. In this case, Monshausen recommends pointing this out to the tour operator. Many providers already pay attention to sustainability. The “Tourism Label Guide” classifies which of the many certificates are reliable.
Sustainable travel takes longer
In any case, it means thinking more about your vacation: “Anyone who wants to travel sustainably needs a little more time – both for the travel itself and for the planning in advance,” says the author Michaela Harfst. But you can’t pay attention to everything, after all it should still be fun.
This is also important to the world travelers Brockmöller and Roth. You know how difficult it is to be sustainable. But: “Every step counts. And if each of us would start a little bit, then a lot has already been achieved.”