Sustainable tourism

According to the UN World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), sustainable tourism is tourism development with a balance between environmental, economic and socio-cultural aspects:

“Sustainability principles refer to the environmental, economic and socio-cultural aspects of tourism development. A suitable balance must be established between these three dimensions to guarantee its long term sustainability” 

Ecotourism

For the International Ecotourism Society (TIES), ecotourism is defined as:

"Responsible travel to natural areas that conserves the environment, sustains the well-being of the local people, and involves interpretation and education"

Ecotourism should provide direct financial benefits for conservation and local people and is focused on the conservation of natural resources.

Green tourism

Hotels that are considered ‘green’ are essentially environmentally friendly and practice sustainable operation methods. Using recycled water for toilets and encouraging guests to take showers instead of baths and re-use their towels are some of the practices that will lead to a hotel being categorised as green.

Green hotels are extremely appealing to travellers, who feel a sense of virtue when booking a stay and supporting these establishments. However, it is for this very same reason that many hotels may deploy this as a marketing scheme and brand themselves as green hotels when they technically don’t qualify as such. It’s important to do a little further research into such declarations, although luckily most environmentally-friendly hotel will disclose information on their websites about their sustainability practices.