Sustainability has become quite the buzzword in many outlets of today’s world. Quite often when scrolling through your newsfeed, you will come across an article with alarmist undertones depicting the current status of the planet. Increasingly, we clever humans want to do what we can as global citizens to slow down our impact.
That’s where sustainability plays the largest role in mitigation and adaptation to the changing world. Sustainability in short, is the study of humans’ relationship to the natural world and how human activity impacts the future. It is the practice of reducing, reusing, refusing, recycling, regenerating, repairing, and resolving. It is interwoven among many disciplines be it climate science, resource management, hydrology, agriculture, socioeconomics, or policy.
So, how does this relate to the travel industry? People have a tendency to wander. Global travel builds character, opens the mind, exposes us to new experiences and ideas, allows us to deepen our understanding of other cultures, and enhances our perception of the human experience. The travel industry continues to gain momentum in the economy. As we advance further into a globalized society, communities are experiencing the detrimental impacts of over-tourism, corporate greed, and multinational conglomerates that take, take, take with no penalties for doing so.
What sustainable travel means to us: it is the rejection of corporate giants and the acceptance of locality, wherever that may be. We think global, act local. As a small-scale world travel agency, our income stream does not trickle upward. It trickles into the local communities that our clients visit. At Blue World Journeys, we feel that we must build rapport with our friends in indigenous communities, local tour ops, and boutique hotels. We prioritize ecotours and native peoples education. We aim to empower the communities that we visit, instead of burden them.
Seeing is believing, experiencing is understanding.