The Best Places To Travel Sustainably This Year

As you can imagine, sustainable tourism awards are not given lightly, and those destinations who win them are leading the charge on sustainable tourism. The best destinations for sustainable travel this year were either awarded or nominated by the World Travel Awards for excellence in ecotourism. Continue reading for the best places to travel sustainably this year.

About The World Travel Awards

World Travel Awards (WTA) reward and celebrate excellence across travel, tourism and hospitality industries. Each year they award different aspects of travel including sustainable travel.

World Travel Awards serves to acknowledge, reward and celebrate excellence across the global travel and tourism industry. This includes leaders in sustainable and eco friendly travel. They are regarded as some of the most notable awards in the industry and are voted on by millions of people.

The 2022 winter of the Sustainable Travel Award is…

Attica, Greece

The region of Attica, in central Greece, was awarded Europe’s Leading Sustainable Tourism Destination at the World Travel Awards (WTA). Attica, which encompasses the city of Athens, the capital of Greece, is part of the peninsula projecting into the Aegean Sea.

Attica’s candidacy as one of the best destinations in terms of sustainability was based on its cultural wealth and its natural beauty as well as the modern infrastructure. The comprehensive plan implemented by the region in order to turn Attica into the first “Green” region in Greece is a success.

The aim of transforming Attica into Greece’s first “Green” region, includes the creation of new waste and biowaste management facilities, recycling equipment and an updated master plan regarding flood protection.

Greece is overall one of the best countries to visit in terms of sustainability. There are several other destinations that are also among the best places to travel for sustainability including Trikala and Grevena.

Other Nominees

Chumbe Island Coral Park, Tanzania

As one of the best places to travel sustainably, Chumbe Island Coral Park is an award-winning private nature reserve that was developed for the conservation and sustainable management of uninhabited Chumbe Island off Zanzibar. The Chumbe Island reserve includes a protected Coral Reef Sanctuary and Forest Reserve that is home to rare wildlife. The reserve also has a Visitor and Education center to help educate the public, a small eco-lodge, and nature walks.

It’s easy to see why this is one of the best destinations, when you realize the great lengths they go through to achieve sustainability including all buildings and operations using state-of-the-art eco-technology aiming at zero impact on the environment. These include things such as rainwater catchment, solar water heating, compost toilets, and vegetative greywater filtration.

Nepal

As one of the best countries to visit for sustainability, Nepal’s effort and conservation model in sustainable tourism is globally recognized as one of the best approaches. Interestingly, about 24% of the total area of Nepal is designated as protected areas and hosts 80 different ecosystems out of 118 that are found in the country.

It’s also home to eight of the top ten mountains in the world, making Nepal one of the best places to travel for mountaineers, rock climbers, and adventurers. Protecting the environment, natural resources, and animals are among the core commitments of Nepal’s sustainable tourism.

With initiatives such as the Tourism for Rural Poverty Alleviation Program that aids in facilitating eco-tourism in making Nepal one of the best destinations for sustainability. The program’s goal is to contribute to poverty alleviation through sustainable tourism development that is pro-poor, pro-environment, pro-rural communities and pro-women. This makes the benefits of tourism reach grass-roots levels through eco-trekking and similar activities.

Honorable Mentions:

All of these are some of the best destinations to visit if you want to travel sustainably. Whether you want to explore the ancient history of Greece, visit a coral reef sanctuary or trek a mountain in Nepal, sustainability makes these some of the best countries to visit. This list of the best places to travel sustainably this year just scratches the surface of eco-friendly travel. What are you waiting for? Get out there!

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