Eco Guidelines

When we travel to other countries there are many things we can do to both improve our trip/vacation and help promote ecotourism.  Our planet just can’t take anymore rampant development.  All you have to do is look at a news site to read about Climate Change, huge piles of trash in the middle of the ocean, and more.  Since it doesn’t hurt us to follow Eco Guidelines there is no reason not to. Most of them are common sense types of things and can be easily done.

By becoming Eco-tourists our experiences are much richer because we get closer to the community by following basic Eco Guidelines.

Our goal as Eco-tourists should be to leave only footprints in the sand. We need to make sure we minimize our impact on the area we are visiting. With that in mind, here are a few general ideas based on Eco Guidelines.

• Learn as much as possible about an area before visiting.
• Inform yourself of the customs of the area so that you can be respectful by following those customs.
• Stay on designated trails while hiking to minimize damage to fragile ecosystems.
• When hiking, pack out your own trash. Maybe even pack out trash that others have left.
• Leave wild animals in peace by keeping your distance. They are not used to the presence of humans and we are stressful to them. A good way to do this is to use binoculars, or your smart phone’s zoom, so that you don’t get too close. Staying on designated paths will help with this.
• Shop from locally owned businesses to insure maximum benefit from your tourist dollars to the local economy.
• Make a choice to stay at a sustainable hotel. They have made a conscious effort to follow eco guidelines, by doing such things as offering you the choice of re-using your towels and other such things. We only list sustainable hotels on our site.
• A large hotel takes more resources than a smaller hotel.
• Don’t use disposable straws, as plastic contributes to pollution.
• Use biodegradable sunscreen that doesn’t pollute the waters you may be swimming in. Also, be aware of how fragile the coral reefs are and make sure you don’t touch them. The slightest touch can cause a piece to break off.

A specific way to check if an eco lodge or hotel is sustainable is certification. We offer an Online Rating to Eco Resorts to take so that they, and others, can judge how sustainable they are. It is an inexpensive way for lodges to show they practice sustainability.

Here is a link to our Online Eco Rating scores taken by some of the lodges on our site. And here is a link that explains our Eco Rating.

If you have time:

Get involved in the conservation of the area you’re visiting

• Visit or volunteer in responsible nature projects.  All our country pages include a section on small-scale conservation projects. Some you can only visit, but many offer tourists the opportunity to get involved.
• Consider volunteering at local projects – such as bird monitoring, sustainable farming, or school initiatives. Some eco lodges and organizations offer volunteer opportunities or let you contribute to reforestation projects.
• Support small local initiatives and participate in beach clean-ups or plant a tree.
• If you have any other suggestions, please Contact Us.  We are always looking for ways to improve.

For helpful information about different countries, you can look them up in The World Fact Book.