This is a guest post from Daniela Papi of PEPY:

Our trips during our first few years at PEPY were all about service. We were enthusiastic about offering travelers a chance to give back to the places they visited, otherwise known as voluntourism. Tour participants taught classes at local schools, visited orphanages, and repaired educational buildings. Often times, the needs the travelers were filling were not the biggest needs for the projects we were partnering with but were instead the things they were able to physically contribute to. When our guests …

There has been considerable excitement (and press) about green travel certification initiatives. Everyone agrees that sustainable practices in tourism is important and good. But plenty of questions still need to be answered about global sustainability criteria, application and monitoring standards. Meanwhile, everyday more green travel products are being offered to travelers. Often, travelers buy travel offerings based on “good faith” because they have no way to evaluate providers’ green initiatives.
There has been efforts to develop a Global Sustainable Tourism Criteria, but Professor Harold Goodwin of the International Center for …

People across the globe have started to adopt “greener” ways of living, including the hotels that they stay in..

Tourism is the number one industry in the world with about 700 million people spending $2-$3 trillion annually on travel. Travel can be divided into two main categories: conventional travel, like trips to Disneyworld or Paris, and alternative travel, best described as a new travel ethic that is aware of the finite, interconnected and precious nature of our world. Alternative travel is expected to grow most quickly over the next two decades.

With popularity for alternative travel growing, niches are springing up all the time…

Travel responsibly means conserving natural resources, supporting local cultures and making a positive impact on the places we visit. Whether you take big steps or small ones, they all make a difference. National Geographic Traveler put together the Ultimate Guide to Sustainable Travel offering 50 tips. The tips are great and you should check them out if you have time. We were slightly overwhelmed and thought we put together a simpler version that highlights the most practical ones that most travelers could easily do.
1. Choose tour operators that support sustainable …

Conde Nast Traveler held their 3rd Annual World Savers Congress this week in NYC. The editors of Conde Nast Traveler hosted the travel forum for travel providers, and included a few philanthropic celebrities and consumer companies, who came together to dialogue about sustainability, responsible tourism, and corporate social responsibility. Although it’s really an industry forum, we wanted to highlight some noteworthy takeaways from the event so that we can all become smarter and more conscious travelers.

Corporate Social Responsibility
The way companies look at corporate social responsibility has evolved from philanthropy to …

Americans are living in a time when being green and eco-friendly are not only trendy, but becoming a way of life. Traveling green will generally cost more and there are fewer travel choices, for now.
Research done by travelhorizons™ in July found that more Americans are aware of eco-friendly travel (which confirms the general perception), but they will not necessarily pay the price to take part in it. People are more aware of eco-friendly terms and they understand the benefits that others will gain from “being green.” …