My not so green Red Sea holiday
Posted by DavidM in Family plan | 22 April 2008
I’ve reduced my environmental impact in a number of areas but one where I still fail is holidays. Although as a family we go camping in the UK during summer, we still have two overseas holidays a year – the latest being to Egypt.
Flying is one of the fastest growing causes of CO2 emissions. Even with offsetting flights I can’t really consider myself to be green whilst still taking family holidays by plane.
But I enjoy travelling, introducing the children to new places and different cultures. It’s also lovely to get a bit of sunshine when the weather at home is so awful. I don’t apologise for holidaying abroad – I’m no different to the majority of the population – but I am conscious that it’s a part of our lifestyle that could be improved.
The hotel complex was built on the coast where they had created a lush habitat in place of desert, provided jobs in a relatively poor area and the hotel even had recycling bins around the pool area.
However, that greenery comes at a price, there was constant air-conditioning (and no sign of a solar panel despite permanent blazing sunshine) and no doubt there was a huge amount of waste generated by the guests. As an environmental trip it was a bit of a disaster but as a holiday it was a great success.
I was probably the only person lying on the beach considering the environmental impact of the trip and while holidays like this are so accessible it’s not realistic to expect the majority of people to give them up. So how do we change this?
Increased taxes on flights may reduce demand though probably more for the short-stay market than main summer holidays.
Working with hotels to improve their performance is important. Significant steps have been made, such as the Green Tourism Business Scheme, but there is much more to do.
