5 Tips for More Conscious Travel
Congratulations! You found your “dream pearl” and are looking forward to your sustainable stay. The first step towards a eco-friendly vacation is done. There are many additional things you can do during your stay, in order to not only enjoy a perfect vacation, but also return home with a good conscious.
1. Get involved in our green projects
Almost every of our Green Pearls hotels support local communities and initiatives that contribute to sustainable tourism. Why not ask directly at arrival, how you can help! Become a sponsor for an abandoned animal in Thailand, help at a beach clean up or learn everything about renewable energy during a tour of a wood powerhouse in the Dolomite Alps!
2. Learn, taste and indulge
An excellent seasonal and regional cuisine is a very important admission criteria for all Green Pearls members. Most of our hotels obtain fresh ingredients from own vegetable, fruit and herb gardens or from local providers. Let someone show you the grounds, learn everything about farming sustainable cocoa in Costa Rica, produce Almdudler out of hand-picked herbs in Tyrol or try finest organic olive oil in Liguria. You are often fobbed off as vegan, allergy sufferer or vegetarian with second choice meals? Not with Green Pearls: our hotels surprise with meals that are rich in variety and inspiring.
3. Handle nature with kids’ gloves
Travel – when possible – with bus and train and on site by foot, with a bike or – as offered by our “Green Pearls” hotel in Lisbon – with the eco tuk-tuk. Do not buy any souvenirs made out of endangered animals, but instead visit Nemo and his family in a protection program near Koh Haa in Thailand. Stay on designated areas only when hiking, bike riding and walking and do not leave any waste behind. Admire 372 different orchid types in Peru, smell these exotic flowers, capture their beauty with a camera – but leave these precious beauties in their domestic surroundings. This way, the next visitors can also enjoy their beauty.
4. Create lasting memories
There is nothing more sustainable as the relationship to people and the understanding for cultures. Whether on the weekly market or in the café around the corner: talk with locals and learn something about their history. Learn from Jean and Anne how they braved all bureaucratic obstacles, in order to build a lodge out of sustainable tree houses in Tanzania and support local schools. Ask the cook from our yoga retreat in Andalusia for his recipe for a light summer smoothie and mentally beam yourself to Spain every time you make it back at home.
5. Share your experience with Green Pearls
You are now thrilled from your vacation with Green Pearls, because you know how good sustainable travel feels like? You discovered that you do not need to sacrifice high standards for a gentle and ecologically vacation? Fantastic! Then gladly share! Your friends, family and colleagues may not know about our platform yet and do not know that with a simple booking, they can contribute to a socially and ecologically balance in the vacation area. Show them with your vacation photos and stories that conscious travel is not only fun, but also an investment into the future!
