January is traditionally the busiest month of the year for leisure travel bookings as people book their summer holidays and I hope that in 2011 we will see a renewed focus on sustainable travel.  But what exactly is “sustainable travel”?  Travel, by its very nature, has an impact – often negative – on the environment, on culture and on the economies of local people.  However despite the best efforts of the die-hard, dark green environmentalists, people are going to continue flying to overseas holiday destinations and travelling on business.  If you google “sustainable travel” (or “green travel”) you get a wide array of explanations, but for me it’s all about 1) being aware of the impact of our travel, and 2) doing what we can to reduce that impact or better still, make it a positive impact.
 
At Green Rewards we aim to take a practical approach to sustainability and I am delighted that we are now working with our first NHS trust, NHS City and Hackney, to motivate their staff to walk to work.  Clearly geography doesn’t allow us all to walk to work or avoid flying on business, but we can think about the impact of our business travel and assess whether there are practically alternatives such as taking the train over shorthaul flights and tagging holidays on to business travel.  I met with the  Institute of Travel and Meetings recently and I am very encouraged that they are running Project Icarus which aims to share best practice and advice on sustainable travel.  Similarly there are some excellent organisations to check out before taking your annual holiday, particularly Tourism Concern who want us all to consider how the choices we make (eg our chosen hotel, the restaurant where we eat out) affect the local people and the indigineous culture.  Similarly I recommend Travel Pledge if you want to make a charitable donation to help mitigate the impact of your holiday or travel.  And finally, I cannot write about green travel without mentioning my wife Karen’s campaign, Make Travel Matter, through which her travel agency, Travel Matters, is going into local schools in South London to teach children about the impact of travel, as well as supporting various charity travel-related projects – and of course offering her clients Green Rewards vouchers for choosing the most sustainable option!