Traveling responsibly – Yes! But…

Responsible travel doesn’t come naturally. Here’s why this is and how we can improve at it.

Everyone would want to be a responsible traveler. At the same time, there are so many other things we look for when traveling. And we have the right to.

The question is: Are we willing to make significant changes for the sake of being responsible and compromise on other aspects we care about? Do we even think about our impact during the journey itself? Or do we find ourselves guilty of wanting to be responsible, but only if it’s hassle-free and doesn’t mean exiting our comfort zone?

These questions often keep my head spinning and make me question our choices as travelers. They make me want to understand people’s thoughts and wishes, as well as the aspects driving their behaviour.

Below is a selection of anecdotes and experiences that might make you think twice, as they did in my case. They show why traveling responsibly isn’t as straightforward as it seems. Nonetheless, I suggest an easy but meaningful approach to improve at it.

Wait… there’s no aircon?

Working as a receptionist in Grindelwald (Switzerland) in 2025, I was used to people from all over the world flocking to our hotel, especially during the summer months. The guests would be surprised by the heat, which they hadn’t expected from the supposedly cool Alps. Some would ask me if the high temperatures were normal in this region. In my typical reply, I questioned whether there is still such a thing as “normal” when it comes to the weather.

In any case, they would be shocked when finding out that the hotel did not have air conditioning. Not being used to that in their home countries, they were trying to figure out how to survive a single night in an uncooled hotel room. The truth is, most hotels in Switzerland are not equipped with an air-conditioning system.

So, I tried my best to explain to them: “There was no need for air-conditioning in former times here in Switzerland… The regulations are very strict in this country to build them in… Facing climate change, air-conditioning is only going to make this problem worse, which is an aspect we need to keep in mind as a responsible hotel.” The understanding I received was often limited.

Meanwhile, I would think back to the moments I spent looking at avalanches coming down from the formerly “eternal” ice of the mountains. Or the moments I listened to the rumbling of the glaciers as if they were about to fall apart in front of my eyes. The familiar “before & after” images showing the glaciers’ retreat flashed through my mind.

Just in May of the same year, the small town of Blatten in the canton of Valais had been destroyed by a rockslide, caused by the melting of the glacier on a nearby peak called Bietschhorn. In general, you could quite literally see the Alps dissolve in the heat of the summer of 2025. Climate change was taking its toll.

Still, the guests agreed: no aircon? Unbelievable. I am unsure whether or not they are aware of the drastic changes the Alps and any other mountainous region are going through. Possibly, you might have to spend more time observing them and not only see the seemingly ‘eternal ice’ on Jungfraujoch. Nonetheless, limiting energy consumption to address the problem is necessary, even when we are on holiday.

Airbnb – the villain amongst accommodations?

Cusco, the Incan empire, is an absolute gem tucked in the Peruvian Andes. It was February 2022, and here I was, starting a new life and looking for a place to live. Flat hunting is easy in Peru; once you’ve found a place you like, you’re free to move in the next day – no paperwork needed, just a little chat and maybe a handshake.

However, it turned out that half of the flats on the market were only to be rented to short-term visitors. They are Airbnb’s. This was the first time I witnessed the rising problem linked to this platform first-hand. Nobody wanted to rent their flat to me in the long run, as earnings are way higher when working with Airbnb. (I can’t blame them, honestly.)

But there’s a catch: Although Cusco is touristically well-placed, the demand is not high enough to fill up all the Airbnbs, even in high season. Therefore, all the flats stood empty, and the landlords didn’t earn a Sol (Peruvian currency), whereas I, together with plenty of other candidates, struggled to find a place to live.

This situation had a lasting impact on me. Airbnb was my enemy from now on. Except that, well… sometimes, it can be so useful to have your own kitchen when traveling and spend less money for a single room than you would in a hotel. Right? That’s precisely the dilemma I was facing at the time of writing, as my Work and Travel in Canada was upcoming in 2026.

Affording an incredibly overpriced hostel room for a whole month before finding my own place to live was barely an option. Eventually, I found myself looking into Airbnb’s in places like Canmore in the Rocky Mountains. But the more I searched, the more I realized: the housing situation in Cusco was a joke compared to Canada. People up there are having a hard time finding a place to live.

My interest shifted to the French-speaking part of Canada and areas with less housing market tension. The crisis, although still visible, seemed less severe in cities such as Montreal and Quebec. And I felt like I couldn’t shake off the guilt if I booked an Airbnb in Canmore, where the locals struggle to settle down in their own hometown.

(Honest update: I have booked two different Airbnbs in Montreal and Quebec to cover the first month of my stay in Canada. I decided not to opt for one of the apartments of a superhost, who rents out several rooms around the city. Instead, I chose options where you live together with hosts who rent out a small room within their house and provide access to their kitchen. This seems like a good compromise that I am happy with.)

Faster, higher, better

When I moved to Interlaken, Switzerland, in 2023, I was off to explore the Jungfrau region. That included taking the Wengernalpbahn from the towns Lauterbrunnen or Grindelwald up to Kleine Scheidegg, situated just next to the famous Eiger North Face. Having a train take you up the mountain within half an hour is a luxury many countries can only dream of. And the views are quite unbeatable, to be honest.

However, this was not yet enough for the tourism industry. The Wengernalpbahn, which started to operate in 1893, was complemented in 2020 by the Eiger Express. This modern gondola takes people from Grindelwald directly to the Eiger Glacier in no time. It runs every minute. The new attraction, along with the increase in accommodation options, activities, and shops, naturally led to a significant number of visitors in the small mountain village.

Although not officially classified as such, overtourism has taken its toll on Grindelwald. In peak times, the streets are packed and the locals are stressed. Signs have been put up, reading “Please, don’t walk on the lawn. Please, don’t leave any trash behind. Please, respect the locals and don’t enter their properties.”

People make a living from tourism. And Grindelwald will continue to welcome visitors, who will hopefully opt for more extended stays instead of short visits, choose hotels over Airbnbs and respect local culture. Yet, I keep wondering if building the Eiger Express was worth it. The high-rise poles of the new gondola significantly impact the environment, and Grindelwald might soon reach its limits in terms of visitor numbers.   

Venice or Barcelona? – When tourism takes over

One of the first questions we got asked at my university in Belgium, studying tourism management, was: “Who among you has ever been to Barcelona?”. Immediately, dozens of hands shot up into the air. It seemed like 99% of the course had been to this destination. This is astonishing, considering there are 195 countries in the world, most of which are accessible to us Europeans.

You might see where I’m going with this. Certain destinations have become so famous that they are now on everyone’s bucket list. Barcelona, Venice, Amsterdam, you name it. Some owe their fame to well-known movie scenes, such as Dubrovnik in Croatia or Iseltwald in Switzerland. What’s happening here can clearly be labelled as “overtourism”.

Luckily, there’s an easy solution to the problem: skip these destinations and choose one of hundreds of alternatives. Still, people don’t seem to be doing that. I remember complaining to a new friend of mine about cruise ships invading Venice and how people visit it for just two days without considering their impact and the responsibility they have as tourists. Funnily, he smirked at me and said: “Well, I actually did that… Last month.”

In that moment, I realized: people don’t really know about these issues. If they are, unlike me, not bombarded by news from the travel industry every day, they haven’t seen a hundred pictures of cruise ships on the shores of Venice and Dubrovnik. They haven’t seen interviews with local inhabitants talking about the lack of privacy in their front yards. And they most probably haven’t discussed it with them.

I concluded that nobody is ever traveling with bad intentions. Yet, the problem is out there, it is real, and we need to talk about it.

So, what now?

I believe that most people want to be responsible travelers. It’s just not something that comes naturally unless we deal with the subject.

The clue to making a change is awareness. Nobody can be blamed for their behavior if they simply don’t know any better. But if you do know, your conscience will be knocking on the door. It will give you hints and guide you in the right direction to make the right decisions.

Making the right decisions might mean that we have to leave our comfort zone to some extent. We might not be perfect at it. And we don’t have to.

What matters is that before going to any destination, we need to do our research. Try to figure out the good and the bad sides before heading somewhere. What are the challenges this destination is dealing with? Can I react to this situation by adapting my behavior? How can I make the most of my journey and give back to the place?

Put yourself in the position of the local people and the precious, fragile nature out there. Think about the tourist you want to be, the impression you want to make, and the impact you want to have. And I assure you, the more you do that, the more rewarding your journey will be.