Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
42
General Resources for Green Travel
In addition to the resources for Orlando listed above, the following websites
provide valuable wide-ranging information on sustainable travel. For a list of
even more sustainable resources, as well as tips and explanations on how to
travel greener, visit www.frommers.com/planning.
•
Responsible Travel
(www.responsibletravel.com) is a great source of sus-
tainable travel ideas; the site is run by a spokesperson for ethical tourism
in the travel industry.
Sustainable Travel International
(www.sustainable
travelinternational.org) promotes ethical tourism practices, and manages
an extensive directory of sustainable properties and tour operators around
the world.
• In the U.K.,
Tourism Concern
(www.tourismconcern.org.uk) works to reduce
social and environmental problems connected to tourism. The
Association
of Independent Tour Operators (AITO)
(www.aito.co.uk) is a group of
specialist operators leading the field in making holidays sustainable.
• In Canada,
www.greenlivingonline.com
offers extensive content on how
to travel sustainably.
• In Australia, the national body which sets guidelines and standards for
ecotourism is
Ecotourism Australia
(www.ecotourism.org.au).
The Green
Directory
(www.thegreendirectory.com.au),
Green Pages
(www.thegreen
pages.com.au), and
Eco Directory
(www.ecodirectory.com.au) offer sustain-
able travel tips and directories of green businesses.
•
Carbonfund
(www.carbonfund.org),
TerraPass
(www.terrapass.org), and
Carbon Neutral
(www.carbonneutral.org) provide info on “carbon offset-
ting,” or offsetting the greenhouse gases emitted during flights.
•
Greenhotels
(www.greenhotels.com) recommends green-rated member
hotels around the world that fulfill the company's stringent environmental
requirements.
Environmentally Friendly Hotels
(www.environmentally
friendlyhotels.com) offers more green accommodations ratings.
•
Sustain Lane
(www.sustainlane.com) lists sustainable eating and drinking
choices around the U.S.; also visit
www.eatwellguide.org
for tips on eating
sustainably in the U.S. and Canada.
•
Volunteer International
(www.volunteerinternational.org) has a list of
questions to help you determine the intentions and the nature of a volun-
teer program. For general info on volunteer travel, visit
www.volunteer
abroad.org
and
www.idealist.org
.
2
GENERAL ECO
TOURISM
RESOURCES
Sustainable tourism
is defined as consci-
entious travel—in other words being care-
ful with the environments you explore and
respecting the communities you visit. Two
overlapping components of sustainable
travel are
ecotourism
and
ethical tourism.
The
International Ecotourism Society
(TIES) defines ecotourism as responsible
travel to natural areas that conserves the
environment and improves the well-being
