Top Travel Trends for 2022

Like many of us, you might already be starting to think about next year’s travels and adventures.

Google has identified the top travel trends for 2022 – environmental considerations are important to travellers, now more than ever following the recent COP26. Travellers have become more conscious of their carbon footprints and show preference to eco-friendly and sustainable brands, turning to these more often when making travel plans.

If you’re trying to live a more responsible, sustainable lifestyle, you might be wondering how travel fits into that.

Travelling responsibly in the new year

When travelling more consciously in 2022, we should all try our best to keep our carbon footprint low and opt for sustainable and environmentally friendly options across our holidays.

At Adventure Tours UK we LOVE responsible travel! We’ve gone out of our way to make sure all of our adventures are as sustainable as possible, have a minimal environmental impact and have a positive effect on our local community.

From calculating and publishing the carbon footprint of every tour, to launching a new carbon-offsetting tree planting project in our local area, we’re always trying to do whatever we can to be a more responsible travel company.

And as individuals, we can also do a lot to help. Most of these things are small steps – but the more of us who take a few small steps each, the more we’ll start to see a global shift for the better.

We’ve put together this travel checklist, incorporating the travel trends for 2022, to make it easy to start putting some of these small steps into practice on your travels.

For more in-depth information and tips, you should read our responsible travel and ethical travel guide posts. This is a quick checklist, breaking down the information into easy-to-follow steps. We hope it helps!

20-Step Responsible Travel Checklist

1 – Be more conscious of your carbon footprint: reduce and offset whenever possible

2 – Explore closer to home: opt for staycations instead of overseas travel

3 – Choose accommodation that is actively trying to be more sustainable and eco-friendly

4 – Prioritise smaller accommodation over big resorts: boutique hotels, homestays, cabins, camping, glamping, etc

5 – Help counter over-tourism and over-crowding. Avoid popular destinations at peak times and look for alternatives and “off the beaten path” destinations

6 – Pack plastic-free! This includes tools to help you avoid single-use plastics when you travel, such as reusable water bottles

7 – Eat local and seasonal: the further your food travels to reach your plate, the bigger its carbon footprint

8 – Immerse yourself in local culture

9 – Leave only footprints: leave all destinations exactly as you found them

10 – Support social enterprises

11 – Avoid unethical animal encounters. Stay informed and be on the lookout for signs of poor animal treatment

12 – Avoid animal cruelty when dining and steer clear of any establishment serving meat from endangered animals

13 – Be aware of local etiquette to avoid causing accidental offence

14 – Respect local customs and beliefs

15 – Take photos with sensitivity and ALWAYS ask permission before taking photos of people

16 – Beware of voluntourism – seek out projects that have a valuable, sustainable impact and avoid those that are run solely for profit

17 – Learn a few phrases in the local language to make your interactions more polite (and impress the locals)

18 – Support local businesses

19 – Seek out responsible and ethical tour operators. Like us! The good ones will usually publish their brand ethics on their website

20 – Be an ambassador for change: try and encourage other travellers – and other travel businesses – to be more responsible

Reduce your Carbon Footprint when you Travel

Sustainability is a big part of responsible travel and one of the top travel trends for 2022. It’s all about minimising the negative effect that our trips have on the planet and trying to protect the environment from things like additional carbon emissions.

With carbon dioxide rising every month, we all need to make environmentally-friendly choices. The same goes for when we are travelling. Here are a few more tips for things you can do to reduce your carbon footprint when you travel…

1 – Be more conscious of your carbon footprint. Calculating your emissions can put things into perspective. Being more aware makes it easier to start actively trying to reduce your emissions

2 – Fly less frequently

3 – Fly economy: it’s a lot more sustainable than business or first class

4 – Travel closer to home. If 2020/21 taught us anything, it’s the value of a good staycation!

5 – See if an overland option is feasible and less impactful alternative to flying

6 – Fly direct, avoiding detours and layovers. Take-off and landing use the most fuel

7 – Choose greener air travel. Look for airlines that are doing more to be efficient and sustainable and try to fly on planes with lower emissions such as the Boeing 787 and the Airbus A350

8 – Pack light: every kg of luggage adds to your personal emissions!

9 – Opt for low-impact overland travel options like trains and buses for travel within your chosen destination, rather than short internal flights

10 – When exploring a destination, get around by walking, biking or public transport instead of a rental car or taxi

11 – Find a way to offset the additional carbon emissions generated by your travel – perhaps by donating to a tree planting charity

Ready to make a change to your travel habits?

We hope our responsible travel trends checklist has inspired you to make a few changes when planning your adventures for 2022. Why not check out our Wild Wellness Retreat, with a total carbon footprint of only 22kg per person. Or our Trail Running Camp, with a total carbon footprint of 13kg per person!

Happy travels.