A green light for more sustainable travel?

Traveling in the early 90’s, I started cycling from the West Coast of the United States and headed east. I eventually jumped over an ocean to cycle my way through Europe, and as the weather turned cold, diverted South to cycle closer to the equator, for winter on the African Continent. Winter over, I regained my easterly direction and eventually found myself in the tiny country of Nepal. In a used bookstore in the capital city of Katmandu I found a Lonely Planet Guidebook to Nepal. The guidebook suggested that travelers choose for cold showers while trekking in the Himalaya as warm showers would only be made by building fires with the short supply of fire wood found above tree line. Since most of the trekking was above tree line the fires would be made with a scarce supply of wood generally used for cooking. Hence cold showers were more sustainable for this small country.

Brain freeze and Resilience

My experience bathing in glacial melt for three months was a lesson in resilience. I was certain my brain was going to suffer frostbite each time I endured the close to freezing point water, but this was, for sure, my first experience with sustainable travel. Cycling was my choice of travel not for sustainability’s sake, but more for the experience I hoped it would bring. Dipping myself in glacier melt to get clean was, on the other hand, purely for the sake of sustainability.

Tourist tax?

Fast forward to January of 2024, as Greece replaced its overnight stay tax with a Climate Crisis Resilience Fee. It is expected to raise $400 million euro annually. It will be directed towards disaster prevention and ecosystem restoration.

Welcome to 2025, and the advent of the tourist tax. Around the world destinations are introducing new climate focused fees on everything from hotel stays, ferry tickets, to admission to national parks and other protected areas. This year Hawaii took an unprecedented step by enacting the US’s first tourist tax explicitly tied to the climate crisis. Known as the Green Fee, the bill adds an additional 0.75% on top of existing accommodation taxes. It is expected to raise 100 million annually for climate adaptation starting in 2026.

A green light

Are travelers ready to pay more for more sustainable travel? Already a study in 2023 by Euromonitor found that nearly 80% of visitors were willing to pay at least 10% more for sustainable travel options. Booking.com’s 2024 Sustainable Travel Report stated 75% of global travelers said they wanted to travel more sustainably in the year ahead. A whopping 71% said they hoped to leave places they visit better than how they found them. In 2025 the general consensus seems to be that travelers are happy to pay more- as long as the money is going to the right place.