16 Ideas for being a better tourist this summer

Whether you’re headed on holiday to simply lie about doing very little or you’re planning some wild adventures – hiking massive mountains or wobbling about on a paddleboard – there’s no need to punish the planet for it with a new OOTD for each of your days away. Or indeed, picking up brand-spanking new kit, when a bag from ten years ago… well, still carries stuff too. Hit up your thrift stores or apps to grab clothes and kit for a fraction of the price and much less waste.

As tempting as it is to fill up the suitcase with anything and everything you find on your travels, by avoiding shopping in favour of outdoor pursuits and learning new skills, we create far less carbon! Instead of thinking about where you want to go, you could think about what you want to learn. Who needs to go shopping for ceramics, when you can simply learn to make them yourself?

Like us, you might well be lucky enough to get volunteering days from your employer – but whether you do or don’t, you can always look to give back using your holiday time. This could be as big as using entire days or weeks to involve yourself in charity programs and volunteering schemes or as simple as making sure you donate to a cause whilst you’re away or donate when you visit a local museum.

This is as simple as can be – when you go away, be sure to support the local businesses you find when you get there. Eat at the local restaurants, shop at the farm shops, and just generally head to the smaller places whilst you’re away. When you avoid heading to the chains, you hand your money to the people that need it most to keep their small businesses afloat.

Try out the local delicacies, take tips from the locals on where to eat out, and wander off the beaten path to discover hidden gems. It’s by far the best way to immerse yourself in the local culture and to find out a little more about the history of where you’ve visited. And of course, once again, there are obvious benefits to the local economy, and the smaller businesses that thrive on it.

Travel off-peak, stay off season. There are so many reasons this is a good idea. First of all, for selfish reasons, cost. Travelling off-peak and staying away in shoulder-season is, generally speaking, a lot more affordable. But it also diminishes the impact of high traffic, whether that’s the carbon emissions and air pollution or the strain it puts on local infrastructure when you arrive. It also provides much needed income during the periods that there are fewer tourists.

Beyond also contributing to overcrowding in certain places, you’re far less likely to inject your spending into the local economy if you’re simply at a destination for the one day. If you’re planning on visiting, consider staying local and choose accommodation that isn’t taking housing stock directly out of the market – and affecting local’s ability to buy a house. So perhaps something like a yurt… or a treehouse… or whatever.

We’ve all had the moment where we’ve had family or friends come to stay, and whilst visiting, we decide to take a tour of our own city, only to realise we actually know very little about it. Far flung destinations can seem the most appealing, but there’s so much on our doorstep on offer, often with a rich history that we know surprisingly little about. So look a little closer to home next time, and you might be surprised at what you find.

Every time you head up the motorway, or drive a decent distance in the UK, you’ll end up passing a spot in the distance where you can see soaring mountains, miles of undisturbed greenery or wild horses galloping free. These are your National Parks and National Landscapes (the new name for our Areas of Outstanding National Beauty) – and they’re incredibly underutilised. There are 46 National Landscapes in the UK, covering 14% of England, Wales and Northern Ireland. There’s more beauty nearby than you might realise. Take some time to explore them, and you’ll find dramatic vistas, wild animals, magnificent plant life and a sense of calm you’ve been missing.

Giving back typically comes with a warm fuzzy feeling, and generally speaking, it’s all you need. But there are some occasions where you get a little bit more back in return. Head to somewhere they support rewilding, conservation or animal rescue, and you also get to spend a few days milling about in a rewilding spot, and watch the site burst into life with creatures great and small, all thanks to your support. Just be sure to check their accreditations, and when travelling to support conservation – do it as a staycation – or the emissions you make will be counterproductive!

Doing your own research is incredibly important. If something sounds too good to be true, well, you get the idea. As companies thankfully begin to shift towards policies that benefit, or at the very least, reduce planetary harm – there are a few bad apples just trying to jump on the trend, rather than actually help towards eco-conscious goals. Check that whoever you’re supporting with your custom is actually doing the good work, and look for things like impact reports.

The easiest way to cut down your impact on any environment, no matter where you are, is to reduce your emissions from transportation! And this could be for any stage of your journey, from avoiding driving to your space and opting to take public transport or a lengthy cycle ride, to renting bikes whilst you’re there and minimising your use of fossil fuels once you arrive. Many destinations have rentable green travel available.

This one isn’t about the power usage of your phone – but more the impact of you living through a lens. Above and beyond the benefit of unplugging for a while, when you arrive at your destination, it’s much nicer for the residents at the other end to be able to engage with you as a person, rather than a phone zombie.

Before you set off, make sure you equip yourself with all you’ll need to avoid waste. First and foremost, a permanent water bottle which you can get filled up whenever you pop into cafés. That’s one massive source of unnecessary plastic dealt with, and after that you can start thinking about lunchboxes, cool bags, wax wraps and the like. It might be a little pricier to begin with, but you’ll soon make your money back.

This is some great advice for home and abroad – social media can be very useful. It can be, very engaging, and a lot of fun. In some cases, it can even be a force for good. It can also be hugely detrimental in many ways. Be conscious of travelling to destinations you’re seeing on social media, as you might be able to see from the ‘views’ counter – a huge number of other people have seen it and might be heading there, which can create an unsustainable situation. Even heading to ‘destination dupes’ inevitably creates a similar situation – so do your own research, find your own spots, and stay off the beaten path!

When’s the last time you left a good review? Whilst it’s altogether a lot easier and satisfying to leave a bad review for a bad experience – we tend to forget to leave reviews for places and experiences that we enjoyed. We often think ‘Oh, I’ll do that later, on the ride home, or when I’m back’. But the impact you can have is actually massive, with 90-99% of customers reading the reviews before they buy a product or an experience (which probably means you do too, now you think of it). By taking a little time out of your day, you can make sure that the small, ethical or green business you want to see thrive, does.