Sustainable travel amidst revenge traveling: How to enjoy your vacation while making a difference

As the world reopens and travelers hit the road again, a new phenomenon known as “revenge travel” is taking center stage — people are eager to make up for missed adventures. But as we plan our long-awaited getaways, there’s a growing need to rethink how we travel. The effects of climate change and the importance of supporting local communities have made sustainable tourism more relevant than ever.

Sustainable travel isn’t just about minimizing your environmental footprint — it’s about making meaningful, responsible choices that benefit both the planet and the people in the places you visit. From staying in eco-friendly accommodations to supporting local economies, there are countless ways to explore the world without leaving a negative impact.

To dive deeper into sustainable tourism in this new era of travel, we spoke with Nicholas Lim, CEO for Asia at The Travel Corporation (TTC).

Who is Nicholas Lim

An industry veteran with over two decades of travel and hospitality experience, Lim was named CEO for Asia at TTC in August 2021. Based in Singapore, Lim is responsible for helping the company expand its presence across Asia while laying out new strategic strategies for growth across all market segments.

He previously served as General Manager, Sales, Asia for Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL). Lim is no stranger to TTC, having served as President for Asia of Trafalgar Travel and Managing Director, Asia, among other roles for over 18 years, before his stint at NCL.

In this interview, Lim discusses some of the challenges faced by sustainable travel in Asia, as well as how people can enjoy their vacations while being conscious of the environment. He also identifies some of the most sustainable tourism destinations in Asia.

What is your definition of sustainable travel and how does it become relevant with the current trends?

The topic of sustainable travel is broad and encompasses various factors. At TTC, we define sustainable travel through How We Tread Right (HWTR), our brand-wide 5-year sustainability strategy which identifies 11 sustainability goals to achieve. These goals are anchored to the United Nations Global Goals for Sustainable Development, which we’ve prioritized based on TTC’s impact potential.

We are committed to ensuring that our customers travel sustainably through our Make Travel Matter conscious travel experiences across our family of brands.

Travel is one of life’s most amazing experiences, but it entails responsibility as well. What we want is to leave a positive impact on the people and communities we visit, protect wildlife and marine life, and care for the planet we call home.

Our itineraries across 41 brands include MAKE TRAVEL MATTER® Experiences which are chosen with great care based on the positive social or environmental impact they have on their communities and those who experience them. With these, we are encouraging the greatest community to benefit from travel and tourism while educating guests across our brands about the Global Goals and the local community actions being taken to advance them. Travelers can be assured that their experience is creating a positive impact when partaking in one of these experiences.

Through our strategy’s sustainability goals, and through our TreadRight Foundation, which supports sustainable tourism projects worldwide, our efforts focus on three pillars:

Planet – Sustainability and conservation: ensuring that we’re protecting our invaluable landscapes and natural resources

People – Cultural preservation: ensuring that the true economic benefit of travel is felt by local communities

Wildlife – Protection of our world’s wildlife while advocating for the highest standard of ethical wildlife experiences

Our efforts in this space dovetail with the current trend — corporations and consumers are sitting up and working to make sustainable travel a reality. Recent reports found that 84% of Singaporean travelers say that sustainable travel is vital, and 72% of global travelers believe that people have to act now to save the planet for future generations.

What is the impact of revenge travel on sustainability in Asia?

The biggest cause of concern about the impact of revenge travel is over-tourism. As people return in droves to beloved and new destinations to fulfill pent-up travel demand, there is an expected influx of travelers to popular tourist destinations. In Asia, the topic of overtourism is well documented and understood to pose a risk to the health of destinations and the visitor experience. Crowding is not simply an issue of congestion; it also pressures local infrastructure and the fabric of a community, along with increasing a destination’s reliance on tourism as a means of employment and trade.

In Asia, the impact of revenge travel, specifically overtourism and carbon emissions, on sustainability can be serious if prolonged. Revenge travel and overtourism will only be seen as detrimental if a majority of travelers are not taking sustainability into consideration.

Be that as it may, we know that consumers do want to do better. It was also found that while there is a high percentage of travelers in Asian countries who have indicated that the pandemic has made them want to travel more sustainably in the future, barriers still remain, with 49% of travelers believing there simply still aren’t enough sustainable travel options available in 2021.

In the face of these developments, there are incredible opportunities for travel companies to do better. As a travel provider, we make it easy for our travelers to access more sustainable travel options so they can be at ease when they travel, knowing that their experiences bring about positive impacts on people, the planet, and wildlife.

To address the myriad issues posed by overtourism, we are improving the way we operate, the places we operate in, and the experiences we provide. We aim to include at least one MAKE TRAVEL MATTER® Experience in 50% of all TTC itineraries by 2025 and to achieve a 20% increase of itineraries visiting developing regions for select specialist brands by 2025.

By introducing guests to developing regions, we can support a greater spread of tourism income within the destination, while offering compelling travel experiences.

And we are making great progress on these goals.

In May, TTC released its first Impact Report which covers our progress since the launch of our goals. We have successfully added at least one MAKE TRAVEL MATTER® Experience on 51% of TTC itineraries, with many of our brands doing particularly well in Asia, including Trafalgar, which includes one MAKE TRAVEL MATTER® Experience on 100% of its Asia itineraries, and Contiki, with 70%.

And, since September 2020, TTC brands have developed 68 itineraries visiting 110 developing regions. Our Impact Report is available at impact.treadright.org/progress.

How can people enjoy their vacations while still being conscious of the environment?

A common misconception is that being conscious of the environment, or rather traveling sustainably, is inconvenient or uncomfortable. However, it’s possible to have a great travel experience while still being conscious of the environment.

Our decision to improve the sustainability of TTC itineraries at large via the 11 goals defined in our How We Tread Right sustainability strategy ultimately gives travelers the ability and freedom to choose a travel style and itinerary and brings about positive impacts for people, the planet, and wildlife.

For instance, all travelers of our youth social travel brand, Contiki, can select their trips with peace of mind knowing that since January 2022, Contiki has offset its travelers’ trips by purchasing carbon credits from its carbon offset provider, South Pole.

Within Contiki, an array of sustainable trip experiences await: its popular Fire & Ice trip through Iceland lets travelers participate in the MAKE TRAVEL MATTER® Experience of reforesting the Haukadalur Valley by planting five trees each. As they spend time learning more about eco-friendly practices and assisting with reforestation, they understand the value of sustainable traveling in a way that’s easy and enjoyable.

How can one choose a sustainable travel option?

At TTC, we make it easy for our customers to enjoy a sustainable travel option with our three pillars towards achieving sustainability goals.

Planet: Traveling by coach is one of the most efficient ways to travel, with a smaller carbon footprint per passenger-kilometer than cars, cruises, airplanes and rail. All of our brands operating in Europe use coaches with Euro 6 engines, the most efficient of its kind. We also have idling reduction programs in place for the coaches we own through AAT Kings in Australia and Atlas Reizen throughout Europe.

People: Sustainable traveling can also include supporting local communities. On Uniworld River Cruises’ ‘Splendors of Egypt & the Nile Jordan Extension’ river cruise, guests will visit the Iraq Al-Amir Women’s Cooperative, managed and run by local women. This former TreadRight project provides employment and training to more than 150 women from nearby villages while preserving local arts and culture. The experience directly advances UN Global Goals 4 & 5: Quality Education & Gender Equality by empowering local women and girls.

Wildlife: Tourists can also be more mindful and avoid paying for unethical animal exhibits/performances in visiting countries. In South Africa, lions continue to be held captive in small enclosures and killed every day. TreadRight partner Blood Lions, along with World Animal Protection, is continuing to raise global awareness around this cruel industry to bring an end to captive and commercial breeding of lions and big cats in South Africa. To verify credentials, one should ask whether the sanctuary or rescue center is accredited by the Global Federation of Animal Sanctuaries (GFAS), or recommended by other sanctuary experts such as the Pan African Sanctuary Alliance (PASA), the American Sanctuary Association (ASA), or animal welfare experts.

Ultimately, we want to enable the millions of guests across our brands to make sustainable travel a part of their lives.

Nicholas Lim, CEO for Asia at The Travel Corporation

What are some ways to reduce environmental impact when traveling?

Our Impact Hub was created to give travelers inspiration and guidance on how to travel more responsibly.

Just like our sustainability strategy How We Tread Right, it covers the six areas impacted by travel the most.

For example, travelers can learn how to reduce their carbon footprint by making more responsible choices as they relate to “food” or “waste,” like going vegan for a few meals and bringing reusable bottles and cutlery with them to avoid single-use plastics.

We also have an Animal Welfare Policy that not only guides our teams in designing the most ethical wildlife experiences for our guests but also serves as a great resource to educate travelers on what to avoid and how to behave when interacting with animals in the wild.

Lastly, we have a MAKE TRAVEL MATTER® Checklist that was created to give travelers a handy reminder on what they can be doing before, during, and after their travels.

What are some of the most sustainable tourism destinations in Asia?

In Asia and especially Europe, TTC’s brands have established much loved and meaningful itineraries in places from Cambodia and Thailand to UK and Kenya that include MAKE TRAVEL MATTER® Experiences, such as:

• In Asia, Contiki’s youth travelers on our Thailand itineraries can help give rescue elephants a chance at rehabilitation at the Elephant Nature Park, and in Cambodia, they get to see the amazing efforts of COPE, a non-profit which gives prosthetic limbs to disabled locals, some of whom are victims of unexploded bombs.
  
• Beyond Asia, MAKE TRAVEL MATTER® Experiences are available through Trafalgar itineraries such as ‘Best of Britain’ where travelers get to witness the care and passion Ian and Ann Dyer have for preserving farming traditions and history at Blackmore Farm, their heritage-listed property. As mentioned in the Domesday book of 1085, travelers can enjoy exploring this ancient manor with Ian complete with suits of armor and ancient weapons on the walls then wander the lush green pastures farm before a delicious lunch prepared by Ann. This experience directly supports UN Global Goal 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities.
  
• For Uniworld, a luxury river cruise line, travelers on trips to Dabua visit the Wachau Saffron Manufactory. They get to meet Bernard Kaar and his wife, Alexandra, for a fascinating introduction to saffron—the plant, the spice, and the cultural traditions and tantalize their taste buds with flavorful delicacies while tasting red-wine-and-saffron chocolate and saffron-seasoned jams, vinegar and honey at Wachauer Safranmanufaktur. Bernard, who’s spent years researching the history of saffron and still more years cultivating the world’s only bio-dynamically certified saffron, is one of Wachau’s most important producers.
  
• As for Insight Vacations, travelers will get to visit Iraq-Al Amir Women’s Cooperative in Amman, Jordan which raises the standard of living for women in the area by providing employment and preserving local culture. The women are taught to make cultural handicrafts, including ceramics and textiles, which are then sold in their gift shops and online. Guests can see the work in progress and hear about how it has improved their community.

Lim is optimistic about the future of sustainable travel. He believes that with more people becoming aware of the importance of sustainability, it will become easier to find sustainable tourism options. Travelers can enjoy their vacations while still making a difference by choosing responsible and eco-friendly accommodations, transportation, and activities. There are many sustainable tourism destinations in Asia, so travelers have plenty of options to choose from.

If you want to read more stories about sustainable travel in Asia, visit this page.