How to know if your hotel is sustainable

What travelers should keep in mind when making conscientious choices — and how to book with hotels taking real action behind the sustainable talk

Feb 27, 2023

It’s clear travelers want to do better, but making sure their travel positively impacts the places they visit is a bit more challenging. As the “sustainability” buzzword becomes ubiquitous in seemingly every travel company’s marketing, it becomes harder to decipher which operators are legit behind the claims.

Key takeaways

  • Look for locally owned hotels and tour companies and check if the guides are local, to ensure your tourism dollars stay in the destination;
  • Look for hotels that are committed to a climate action plan and working on measuring and reducing their carbon emissions - and not only offsetting;
  • Look for accreditations by third parties such Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC) Criteria.

Get the full story at AFAR and the Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC)

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