responsibletravel.com, the world’s leading travel agent for responsible holidays, has announced today that it plans to remove the facility for its customers to offset carbon emissions via its website. The company was among the first travel organisations to introduce carbon offsets in early 2002, and is now one of the first to remove them for environmental reasons.

Justin Francis, MD, responsibletravel.com said: “We have thought long and hard about how we can continue to offer our customers the leading advice they expect from a responsible tourism business when it comes to the fast growing impact of flying on the environment.

“We believe that the travel industry’s priority must be to reduce carbon emissions, rather than to offset. Too often offsets are being used by the tourism industry in developed countries to justify growth plans on the basis that money will be donated to projects in developing countries. Global reduction targets will not be met this way.”

Francis agrees with the recent report by Friends of the Earth which labelled offsets as a ‘dangerous distraction’(1):
“Carbon offsets distract tourists from the need to reduce their emissions. They create a ‘medieval pardon’ for us to carry on behaving in the same way (or worse).”

responsibletravel.com has sought advice from Friends of the Earth to put in place a clear, alternative ‘carbon caution’ for travellers offering advice and tips (see www.responsibletravel.com/carboncaution).

Tips for travellers

Francis summarises responsibletravel.com’s advice to travellers:
“Ultimately we need to reduce our carbon emissions. We can do this by flying less - travelling by train or taking holidays closer to home for example, and by making carbon reductions in other areas of our lifestyles too, alongside travel.

“There is no hiding the fact that tourists will continue to want to visit destinations requiring a flight, and that tourism contributes to livelihoods, local economic development and the conservation of the world’s cultural and natural heritage. We will continue to offer a more responsible choice of overseas holiday so that when tourists do fly they can ‘make their holiday count’ by choosing a more responsible holiday.”

Alongside the new advice page, responsibletravel.com aims to help responsible travellers by offering:
# Over 200 UK based holidays. The UK is now the best selling destination on the website as many of its UK-based customers chose to holiday closer to home.
# The functionality to book Europe and worldwide train tickets or UK train tickets to reach their holiday destination.
# A special section dedicated to holidays whose organisers have gone that extra mile in helping travellers choose more environmentally friendly methods of transport. See lower carbon travel holidays.
# Thousands of holidays around the world that work towards reducing their carbon footprint within destinations as much as possible.

responsibletravel.com offers over 3,500 holidays around the world, all of which can be booked as ‘land only’ holidays.

For further information and advice see: www.responsibletravel.com/carboncaution

responsibletravel.com has also teamed up with leading responsible tourism academic Professor Harold Goodwin, Director International Centre for Responsible Tourism on his FlySmart Campaign for Responsible Aviation: www.flysmart.org . The campaign supports a Carbon Friendly Flight Search functionality, enabling travellers to search and compare the cheapest and most environmentally friendly fares available around the world.

For further information on Harold Goodwin’s FlySmart campaign visit: www.flysmart.org

For interviews with Justin Francis or Harold Goodwin, please contact Krissy Roe: [email protected] or 01273 648 519.

1. http://www.foe.co.uk/campaigns/climate/news/dangerous_distraction_20319.html