There’s no doubt that the climate change emergency has brought the topics like sustainable travel, veganism, ecofriendly and green initiatives to the forefront of everyone’s minds. But now with the coronavirus, people are even more conscious about when and how they travel. We believe it’s vital for each of us to look at how we can be more eco-conscious when thinking about taking trips abroad.

Some people say it is impossible to travel sustainable, but we fully disagree. It is definitely possible to change the way you go about planning your travel experiences to ensure you have the least impact possible on the planet. All it takes is arming yourself with some knowledge and research about sustainability and eco travel best practice, and trying your hardest to implement this whenever possible.
Don’t worry, we have done all the research for you and here is what we found.
Sustainable travel has been defined by the World Tourism Organization as
“Tourism that takes full account of its current and future economic, social and environmental impacts, addressing the needs of visitors, the industry, the environment and host communities”.

TO TRAVEL SUSTAINABLY YOU SHOULD WATCH OUT FOR 3 THINGS

• The Environment – try to minimize your impact on the environment
• The Social – have a positive impact on the local community
• The Local Economy – support the local economy

This includes reducing your carbon footprint, minimize your use of single-use plastics, have a minimal effect on wildlife and manage water use and waste management effectively. Also try to choose smaller, family-run properties over large chain hotels, eating at local restaurants, supporting tour guides and buying souvenirs from people who are making them in person rather than purchasing mass-produced products from generic markets.

AT KITESURFING LANKA SUSTAINABILITY ALWAYS COMES FIRST

When you chose a camp like ours, you not only chose to have an adventure of a lifetime in an environment that captures the raw beauty and authentic spirit of Sri Lanka, you also chose to preserve the island’s natural environment, culture and heritage.

The sustainability efforts at Kitesurfing Lanka are focused on community, economy, reforestation initiatives, and on reducing waste. Our ethos also includes making a difference as we have been able to positively change a sleepy little fishing village and create a new industry in Sri Lanka. We take great pride in employing and supporting the local community. We made a conscious decision to outsource services to the village, so they can earn a living through the tourism industry too. To this day, KSL does not own a truck, van or boat – all these are provided by the village. We prioritize staff knowledge and conduct regular training on up-to-date environmental practices.

To read more about our sustainability efforts → Click here

If you want to change your travel actions to a more sustainable variant, there is loads you can do without putting in too much effort.

HERE ARE THE BEST TIPS FOR A MORE SUSTAINABLE PASSPORT

HERE ARE THE BEST TIPS FOR A MORE SUSTAINABLE PASSPORT
1 Look for your destination with Ecosia
Ecosia is actually the same as Google, only it plants trees for every search query!
They are completely transparent, so you see exactly where the income from your searches goes. Their servers run on 100% renewable energy, and every search request removes 1kg of CO2 from the atmosphere.

2 Choose wisely.
When choosing where to stay while you’re away, try to remember, choosing small, local guest houses and hotels is nearly always a more sustainable option both in terms of the environment (large swathes of natural land haven’t been taken up to build new resorts) and in terms of the local economy (you’re putting money into the country and local community rather than to a faceless global corporation).

3 Don’t go ALL IN.
Unfortunately, all-inclusive is a fairly unsustainable way to go too. While all-inclusive resorts may seem better on the budget, they very rarely put money back into the local community (buying wholesale, Westernised food and discouraging you from eating out locally) and they are known for their extreme waste (often providing way more food than is necessary which is subsequently thrown away).

4 Say no to plastic.
Take plastic water replacements with you when traveling.
The word is pretty much everywhere out there, but still, people don’t seem to care sometimes. We should be more sustainable by making eco-conscious choices when it comes to single-use plastic. With figures showing that there may be more plastic in the oceans than fish by the year 2050, many of us are choosing to use reusable products such as water bottles, coffee cups, tote bags and straws instead of single-use versions that have become commonplace in our throwaway society.

5 Visit Places That Need Your Support.
Another way to spend your hard-earned dollars is to travel to destinations that are rebuilding after disasters. Sri Lanka, for example, has developed a robust tourism sector since weathering a devastating Tsunami in 2004. The island, which also faces sea-level rise, also was the target of the April bombings in 2019 and is now hard-hit by the coronavirus. Not because of COVID-19 related deaths, but because their country’s main income is tourism.

“TRAVEL AND TOURISM IS PROBABLY THE FASTEST WAY TO RECOVERY”

As you are part of our KSL community, our dear guests, who have been here and want to come again, we count on you! Many of you have donated already to our our fundraiser and we will be always in your debt! That’s why we keep coming with the best offers to make you kite holiday the best we can!

Free 100$ voucher as reimbursement for your visa fees
Free Vella trip with every booking longer than a week
We offer 15% discount on accommodation for a booking of more than 4 people or for a booking longer than 2 weeks.