Judging by the number of sea and air routes, trains and cars whizzing in every direction, one would conclude that – until 2019 – traveling was certainly considered a pleasure of life, a necessity. In recent years, perhaps even a neurosis: if you don’t travel and you don’t like it, there is something wrong with you.
So, you must book holidays, trips, flights, hotels without wasting time or thinking too much, trying to grab the best offers on the web.

With the arrival of the pandemic – prolonged lock-downs and the closing of borders – this frenzy suddenly ended,
Besides health and economic concerns, this global ‘pause’ has been an opportunity to stop and reflect on travel, its environmental impact and the direction of the tourism sector: the biggest industry in the world, representing a staggering 10 % of global GDP (World Tourism Organization, WTO data) and 13% of Italy one (source Il Sole 24 Ore). (vedi https://www.ilsole24ore.com/art/il-turismo-resta-petrolio-d-italia-oltre-40-miliardi-2019-ora-diversificare-ACTKjOCB)

Even prior to Covid-19, the environmental movement led by Greta Thunberg and her peers induced a reflection on the urgency of protecting OUR exploited, polluted, and consumed planet. The accent on that “ours” makes the difference as we are now quite aware that we are all responsible for its future, for better or for worse.

A lot has been written and said on responsible, experiential, transformative, quality tourism.
In practice, though, these adjectives often translate into rhetorical activities.
Say: are we convinced that, making orecchiette pasta with the grandmothers of Bari, cruising the Venice lagoon while sipping champagne or bringing colored pencils to Jamaican children would produce the emotions and empathy able to transform the travelers’ attitude?
Or would these be just nice gestures aimed to appease our conscience?

Gauging the tourist consumerism needed to support mass industry, the suspicion is that it is not enough.

It could probably work within small niches of responsible travel, where one is truly eager to sacrifice his/her comfort for the benefit of the mission. Or in extreme luxury, where – from the north pole to the Amazon forest – champagne and butler are guaranteed together with a commitment to reduce the environmental impact, a promise truthful to the journey adventure.
Yet are we really willing to change our travel habits to protect the planet?

Let’s consider some examples of what one could do /options one could embrace.
Select destinations upon a strong personal motivation and not just because the of flight price accessibility; linger around longer so to be able to better appreciate places and people. Buy local artifacts; book hotels publishing regular sustainability reports or even certified as a benefit company. Organize itineraries with operators engaged in concrete development projects in the area.

Sometimes, tourism speaks for our aspirations of responsibility, experience, transformation, awareness. )
We had cooking classes, artisans’ tours, grape harvests, garbage pickups on the beaches, planted corals. Nonetheless, a more robust effort is needed now. According to Booking.com’s 2019 Sustainable Travel Report, 71% of travellers believe travel operators should offer more sustainable options. 10 million Skyscanner users have chosen flights based on the lowest CO2 emissions over the past year, and 68% of consumers have expressed the importance of spending their money on local communities.

It all seems logical. Still, when it comes to practice, difficulties multiply.

Although we are not talking about a vacation on Mars, there are budget, time, and knowledge limitations. Where do we start from? From certifications, for example, that allow to tell apart operators and associations, such as The Long Run – representing hotels businesses rooted on the health of the planet and the well-being of guests – and Regenerative Travel – resorts , operators, regenerative projects – with a mission to leave place ins a better shape that they found them.

Thinking about the next decade, when according to WTO, tourist are estimated to be 1.8 billion, who would be the models for a more sustainable and aware tourism, and what would be their ideas?

Three exemplary concepts.

Thierry Teyssier’s nomadic hotel.
Perhaps for his past career as an actor – French hotelier Thierry Teyssier has always thought of travel as a comedy full of twists and turns.
His first hotel, Dar Ahlam – opened in 2002 on the outskirts of the Sahara in Morocco – has rooms without keys and doesn’t feature a restaurant, but rather dining tables randomly set in different areas of the property: in the garden, on the terrace, in a tent, in the desert.
700,000 Heures – founded in 2018 – the first traveling hotel changing destination every six months: Salento, Cambodia, Brazil, Paris, Japan and the next on Lake Como. There, Teyssier direct and produce in person each stay, shepherding members of his Amazirs club through some of the most beautiful – however vulnerable – places in the world, where he finances environmental protection projects, training in hospitality and develops circular economy companies.
Part of this vision, the new Constellation project – launched in January 2020 – a collection of residences for travellers entirely managed by local staff with a first location in the Lençóis Maranhenses National Park in Brazil, and a second in Morocco.

Daniele Kihlgren’s mission: to save territorial identity.
With Sextantio, in 2004, Daniele Kihlgren conceived a new type of rural hospitality.
His vision entails transforming abandoned or semi-abandoned places – such as the medieval village of Santo Stefano di Sessanio in Abruzzo and Matera’s Grotte della Civita – into tourist destinations.
In both cases, buildings and infrastructures are restored, furnished with original furniture and objects. With a peculiarity: the authenticity of the places is exasperated, practically to the level of inconvenience. The rooms do not offer basic amenities such as TV, fridge, and armchairs, at five-star rates.
The goal? Self-selection of guests: only those convinced of the inestimable value of the experience – territorial and natural identity – travel there.
In a different direction the strategy for the traditional village that the Italian entrepreneur has just built on the island of Nkombo, on Lake Kivu, in Rwanda.
Here, it is not necessary to raise prices to limit tourists, who are already very rare.
Instead, cost of the stay in the huts is a free donation; visitor lives on local products – fish and vegetables – just like the inhabitants, and proceedings are invested in health insurance coverage for the local population aimed to treat diseases that are not serious but still with a high mortality rate.

The pursuit of happiness.
Australian entrepreneur Brett Melzer, owner of an agency that organized balloon flights in Asia and Latin America, says he has entered the third phase of his life. After traveling around the world for years, he is now looking for deep and essential values such as spirituality, nature, authentic relationships, even in work.
Accordingly, he has located his new tourism project in Bhutan where he created the Gangtey Lodge, a small twelve-room hotel in the middle of virgin nature, managed entirely by the local community.
He says: “When people will start traveling again, I think Bhutan will be just the kind of place people will look for, thanks to its characteristics: an authentic, non-commercial (destination) that grounds its economy on gross national happiness (GNH), a concept the country has also adopted in social, health and economic policies for years, and is therefore now consolidated.”