The terms green travel, eco travel, and green tourism are basically interchangeable. The concepts don’t refer necessarily to vacations with a concentration on nature or wilderness. In fact, green travel can take you anywhere from the Australian Outback to the bustling cities of the United States and Europe.

To be a green traveller, you simply have to incorporate the basic ideals of green living into your traveling experience. For instance, if you are mindful of recycling at home, you will want to carry that practice over into your traveling and be careful to recycle wherever it is you might journey. Perhaps take a bike tour instead of a bus tour, and leave a lighter carbon footprint on the place you are visiting. Don’t litter when visiting another country, city, or village.

There is also a social context to green tourism. You don’t want to do anything that would negatively impact on the eco-structure of the place you are visiting, and neither would you want to do anything that has a negative cultural impact, as well. Be respectful and mindful of tradition and local culture. Many societies outside of our own have time honored methods of doing things that differ vastly from ours. Before you visit a foreign place, educate yourself about the traditions and heritage of that culture. Green travel extends to socially aware travel. It’s a natural crossroads.

Green travel seeks to turn the negative impacts of tourism into something more positive. Travel and touring can be beneficial to a destination’s economy and disastrous to its eco-system at the same time. This is especially significant to keep in mind when visiting nature sites. An eco- traveler does whatever he or she can to increase their positive impact and diminish the negative impact of their visit. Like taking a hiking tour instead of a driving tour, being sure to leave the location as clean or cleaner than when you arrived, purchasing mementos from native artisans rather than buying factory-produced items from fancy gift shops.

If your idea of eco travel, however, is to experience nature or wilderness, then you may want to visit some of the world’s most exotic green travel destinations, which include:

• Daintree Rainforest, Australia - The oldest continually surviving rainforest in the world, with an intricate ecosystem that supports species found nowhere else on the planet.
• Loango National Park, Gabon - A mostly unspoiled area of Africa, and home to free roaming large mammals like elephants, gorillas, hippopotamus and forest buffalo.
• Lebanon - Lebanon is among the 25 top countries in terms of biodiversity and has a fledgling ecotourism business that provides visitors with access to wildlife, stunning natural landscapes and many other exotic treasures.
• Madidi National Park In Bolivia - Bolivia’s diverse landscape offers a variety of different ecosystems to explore, from the Altiplano – a high mountain plateau where Andean civilization first flourished – to dense Amazonian rainforests like the jungles of Madidi National Park.
• Costa Rica - Costa Rica is one of the world’s most sought-after eco-travel destinations, with hundreds of companies that specialize in providing sustainable services.
• The Galapagos Islands - Visitors to the Galapagos are accompanied at all times by an accredited park ranger to ensure that you enjoy the natural beauty of the islands and the threatened wildlife that inhabits these without causing damage to their environment.
• Madre De Dios, Peru - Rainforest conservation groups promote ecotourism to the area in the hope of creating an economy that depends upon the rainforest remaining healthy and intact.

Adequate planning can ensure a memorable green travel experience. Nowadays, all types of eco-friendly alternatives are available to visitors who are willing to plan ahead. You can start your green travel by planning to offset your carbon emissions from air flight. Some airlines, like British Airways, offer you the opportunity to offset the carbon footprint of your trip by making a donation based upon your flight plan. These donations are then made to eco-friendly technologies like hydroelectric production or solar production. Such an offset will normally cost you anywhere from $10 to $50 depending on your flight.

The next thing you might want to do while making your green travel plans is to book lodgings at an environmentally friendly hotel or hostel. There are more and more places to stay that will give you green travel options and they can easily be found online while researching your trip.

Lastly, try to book activities that are earth friendly rather than not.

These are just a few easy ways that you can make your next holiday a green travel experience.

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