You heard about it over a drink during a conversation with friends who were just back from the archipelago and sang its praises, while watching a TV documentary that intrigued you, or on social media: the Azores are calling you 🙂
Travel to the Azores specialises in the creation of tailor-made travel programmes, carried out within the framework of healthy and sustainable tourism. Our goal is for travellers to be able to discover and enjoy the wonders that the 9 islands have to offer, without distorting either the local culture or the environment, and without having to worry about the organisation.
On the “environment” side, which is what concerns us here, the idea is for the traveller’s ecological footprint to be as minimal as possible. If you care about how you can reduce your carbon footprint on the occasion of your trip to the Azores, here are our best tips.
1 – Eco-responsible tip #1: Offset your flight
Travel pollutes by its very nature. It’s a reality that cannot be denied. Nevertheless, that doesn’t mean the inhabitants of this planet are going to stop travelling, given the constant increase in the number of travellers. The fastest way today to travel outside your country of residence is by plane. Especially if you have to fly over the sea to reach the place where you want to spend your holiday.
First of all, it’s good to think about how many times a year you take the plane, and the distance you travel. If you’re planning to go far, it’s better to stay as long as possible instead of taking a whistle-stop trip. Moreover, spacing out long-distance trips is also a good measure to take to reduce your carbon footprint. In addition, be aware that economy class is always the least polluting.
In the case of the Azores, there’s not yet a way to get there without flying, unless you’re a seasoned sailor and want to go there by boat 🙂
The eco-friendly move? When you book your plane tickets, on practically all airline platforms there’s the option to offset the carbon footprint of your flights by adding a few euros to the total price paid. If the airline doesn’t offer it to you, there are specialised sites, such as myclimate, where you can directly calculate the emissions of your flights, then offset them by paying the corresponding price.
2 – Eco-responsible tip #2: Find providers that follow a realistic and precise environmental charter
Greenwashing? It’s all the rage. It consists of riding the wave of ecology to sell services that are either in no way designed to meet environmental standards, or downright polluting. Described as respectful of nature, of animal welfare… it’s in reality a way to sell better, and to mislead the consumer. Be extremely vigilant, because it’s increasingly difficult to separate the true from the false.
In the Azores, you’ll book various essential services such as accommodation, car rental, food and certain activities. In order to turn to providers with a truly sustainable ethic, several options are available to you:
- choose the most recent establishments: and notably those whose creation or renovation was financed in whole or in part by European Union funds, because you have the guarantee that these establishments underwent drastic checks to obtain said funding; this concerns accommodation as a priority, in terms of the materials used, as well as the rules on safety, accessibility, insulation, the use of renewable energy, water control…
- consume local: for example, when it comes to food, local restaurants, known as traditional “tascas”, will always be more inclined to be greener than the new establishments because they source on site, generally from local producers, and have small menus. They therefore don’t multiply preparations and the variety of products (without skimping on quality for all that). Other restaurants, modern this time, are being created on the principle of respecting a 100% local and 100% organic production, which is not displeasing to us 🙂
- make sure ethical charters exist: particularly for activities that involve a human presence in protected natural environments or that disturb the animals’ environment. For example, boat trips out to sea to admire whales and dolphins: there are local companies that absolutely do not respect the mandatory safety distance from cetaceans, or the duration of interaction with them, or that even offer swimming with these animals. These behaviours put their lives at high risk.
3 – Eco-responsible tip #3: Entrust the organisation of your stay to experts in eco-responsible travel
If the tips set out above seem too restrictive or too difficult to apply, due to a lack of knowledge or a lack of time, your most effective eco-responsible move is to entrust the organisation of your stay to experts who have already done the work for you.
Travel to the Azores was created with the sole aim of allowing travellers to discover the archipelago in an eco-responsible way, by enabling them to find services respectful of local life and of the environment. We negotiate and book for you the services of your stay (with the exception of flights), namely accommodation, car rental, restaurants, activities, and create tailor-made sightseeing itineraries that respect your wishes, your traveller profile (family, friends, couple…) as well as your budget. We also advise you on the full range of questions inherent to your trip: the choice of islands to discover, the number of islands you can visit, in how many days, etc… In short, you’ll have nothing to think about, just to let yourself be carried along 🙂
To receive your free proposal, head to the contact form, or write to us directly at the following address: contact@voyage-aux-acores.com.
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