Green Travel: Responsible travel destinations

Eco-friendly holidays are a new breed of excursion that not only strengthen your understanding of a culture, but also allow you to give something back to the local environment, writes Chloe Addo

There's no denying the allure of an exotic sandy beach in summer or the fun of visiting exiting cities such as Barcelona or Rome. However, eco-friendly holidays can provide a fun and educational experience that offer holiday goers the chance to help the environment at the same time.

There are a growing number of travel operators providing these types of holiday, but exactly what are Eco-friendly holidays?

Eco-friendly holidays aim to reduce the impact that travelling can have on the environment. To discover the variety of eco-friendly holidays that are out there, read on.

Responsible Travel: Green friendly

Many operators conduct green friendly holidays by adapting their business to the need of the environment. They do this by doing stuff like checking CO2 emissions from flights, conserving energy in holiday resorts and offices and funding environmental projects.

Operators like Florida Keys & Key West, and even airlines such as Virgin, contribute towards the environment by paying the cost of offsetting carbon emissions from flights. The cost to offset the amount of CO2 for a return flight to Miami from London would be £15 per person, for example. This money is then used to fund environmentally friendly projects and causes around the world and providing a positive move towards repairing each individual's impact on the climate.

The self-catering specialists Keycamp have also made a number of changes to their business to ensure their actions are friendly to the environment. For example, all Keycamp brochures are printed on paper from sustainable forests and mobile homes offered by the camp require no digging of foundations. The camp was recently awarded the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification for the company's support of responsible forest management.

Other companies looking after the environment but still providing great activities include Palm Beach County who offer a plentitude of aquatic echo-friendly activities along a 47-mile stretch of coastline.

Palm Beach County have recently completed a three-year, million dollar restoration project that has preserved the area's marine and plant life costing $13 million New amenities include a snorkelling area, swimming lagoon, and Seminole Indian-style chicken huts.

It's not only the holiday resorts who are getting up to date with their eco friendly ways, transportations from planes to trains are also updating their procedures to help make the literal travelling for holiday goers are eco-friendly as possible.

Responsible Travel: Carbon neutral

The new St.Pancras station - new home to Eurostar from London - is one example of how transport providers are adapting their work ethics to help the environment.

St.Pancras station has become the world's first train operator to offer carbon neutral journeys, at no extra cost to travellers. The initiative 'Tread Lightly' aims to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 25 per cent per traveller journey by 2012.

'Eurostar shows that short-haul rail travel is not only better for the environment than flying, but that it can also be quicker, easier and more comfortable as well,' says Tony Juniper, executive director of Friends of the Earth who have joined forces with the Tread lightly initiative.

However, other eco-friendly holidays allow you to get hands on with the environment and culture.

Responsible Travel: Volunteering projects

Hands Up Holidays are an operator who go that step further by providing holiday goers with the chance to take part in a range of meaningful volunteering projects that encourage sustainable tourism.

Volunteer projects range from planting native trees in untouched parts of the Marlborough Sounds in New Zealand, to helping in panda reserves in China, or working alongside local fishermen in Ecuador/Galapagos as they visit local islands collecting debris from coastal areas and beaches.

Responsible Travel: National Trust holidays

The National Trust is a UK charity independent of government that relies on the support and generosity of its volunteers and members. The charity is dedicated to the conservation of the local environment and UK heritage sites.

By visiting their website you can sign yourself up as a volunteer and take up the opportunity to go on a working holiday, where you can do anything from carrying out a conservation survey, herding goats, painting a lighthouse or planting trees.

A total of 450 Working Holidays are run every year throughout England, Wales and Northern Ireland by The National Trust

Holidays range from two to seven days from £60 a week including food and hostel-type No previous volunteering experience is necessary and trained volunteer leaders and staff will accompany all trips. For more information visit: www.nationaltrust.org.uk

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