What you can do

HOW CAN YOU contribute yourself?

To increase the positive impact of travel on nature, culture and people, and to reduce the social, cultural, economic and environmental impacts of our activities, you as a traveler can also contribute a lot. Below are some important tips to travel responsibly. If you have any tips of your own, feel free to let us know!

Tips for responsible travel:

• Neutralize your footprint and offset the CO2 emissions of your trip via the operator.
• Select the most environmentally friendly means of transport on site.
• Stay in as carbon neutral as possible accommodations that invest in local community development and conservation.
• Choose a local guide to accompany your activities.
• Leave protected flora and fauna alone.
• Avoid single-use plastics when traveling; bring a refillable water bottle and your own (shopping) bag and do not bring mini bottles but opt for sustainable packaging.
• Use water efficiently at your destination and separate your waste, even during your holiday.
• Support and promote local initiatives.
• Do not hand out pens, candy or money to children; if begging yields more than school, there is a good chance that school will be skipped.
• Would you like to contribute to the local school? Then inquire what is needed, buy it locally and give the things to the teacher.
• Don’t buy forbidden souvenirs but (durable) mementos whose proceeds benefit local people.
• Visit catering establishments that use organically grown seasonal regional products and do not eat endangered species.
• Tip! In Africa, for example, your $ 1 tip means a meal for an entire family; unnoticed you support up to 12 people!
• Prevent animal suffering; do not ride an elephants, do not support dancing bears, do not pet tigers, do not swim with trained dolphins, do not visit cuddly farms and do not let yourself be photographed with (sedated) predators.
• If you are diving or snorkeling, use sunscreen without oxybenzone, do not touch or break coral.
• Do you want to photograph local people; first have a chat and ask for permission.
• Help fight child sex tourism in vacation countries; be alert and report suspicions of child sexual abuse; more information can be found on the Ecpat page.