You are here : Home » Other » Eco Guidance » EcoScope » Tourists want to take care of relevant issues

Tourists want to take care of relevant issues

1 Comment
Posted on January 16, 2011 by ecoadmin 

sustainable holidays

Sustainable holidays are around the corner

One of the major, major problems with energy efficiency and carbon reductions is that there are far too many of us on the face of our small planet! And, amongst the multitude of mankind’s activities, the leisure area will have to change it ways to be successful.

However, Thomson Holidays, has been taking a close look at the repercussions for the holiday industry and come up with a special report on mass tourism. It suggests that the global tourism industry is looking to changing the game again and that “holidays for the many, rather than exclusive resorts for the few, will hold the key to sustainable travel in the future.”

The report cites the comments of Professor Geoffrey Lipman, special advisor to thje secretary general of the UN World Tourism Organisation, when he says: “We’re in the middle of a revolution in tourism. The big things playing a fundamental part in change are mindset, technology and financing.

‘Travel has to be sustainable. The difficulty is in convincing people of there need. Once you’ve done this, change is exponential!”

Jan Ashton, Thomson Holidays’, head of sustainable development, believes tour operators will be key to leading their customers into a brave new world of greener travel. “Our customers expect us to provide the infrastructure to enable them to holiday more sustainably.

“Our research shows that our customers want us to take care of relevant issues for them. So our challenge is top influence destinations and hotels to supply an infrastructure that allows our customers to be more sustainable.”

Looking ahead to 2030 the report predicts a number of exciting new trends and developments including:

Imagined villages built on former urban or brownfield sites, created as artificial or imagined worlds to provide respite from the real world.

Aqua-villages (see our illustration) – zero-impact floating resorts which harvest energy from the sun, wind and rain, locally source all materials and food and which can be moved leaving no trace of its presence.

The transformation of the world’s largest airports into aerovilles – destinations in their own right featuring state-of-the-art cinemas, hotels and restaurants.

Second-generation biofuels developed from algae, which will be mixed with jet fuel to power aircraft with significantly reduced carbon emissions.

A new generation of airships featuring stunning, cathedral-like internal spaces housing bars, restaurants and even apartments, recreating the golden age of travel and creating a new style of travel called ‘slowtopianism’.

Photo: Thomson’s ‘Lillipads’ are just one solution for taking tourism to where it’s most needed!

More information: www.holidaysforever.co.uk/thomson

Rating 3.00 out of 5

This entry was posted in EcoScope, Travel and tagged , , , , ,


One Response to “Tourists want to take care of relevant issues”

  1. ecoadmin says:

    January 16th, 2011 at 5:26 pm
     

    It very interesting and highly appropriate that the global tourism industry is looking to ‘change the game’. Holidays of the future will certainly hold the key to sustainable travel and our leisure in the future.

Reply