With vacationers realising the impact of their getaways on the environment, more and more travellers are switching to the sustainable route. While travellers want to keep their wanderlust satisfied, going greener is on priority and the Sustainable Travel Index 2023 is here to help.
The index is based on findings by Euromonitor International with 56 indicators across seven pillars. These are environmental, social, economic, risk, demand, transport and lodgings, which determine the “comparative performance of sustainable travel and tourism for 99 countries through scores and weightings to produce an overall ranking,” says Caroline Bremner, Head of Travel at Euromonitor International. Of the top 20 nations, 19 belong to Europe, while one is from South America. Sweden tops the list followed by Finland and Austria at the second and third positions respectively.
The methodology behind the Sustainable Travel Index 2023
Talking about the survey, Bremner says, “There are three main types of indicators. The health of a destination relating to happiness, equality and social justice, then the specific impacts of tourism on the local environment such as hotel energy use, followed by the general state of tourism such as quality of infrastructure or dependency on international demand.”
She adds, “Looking to the future, the Sustainable Travel Index highlights green technology and digitalising the traveller journey as two sure-fire ways to help achieve the road to net zero.”
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The survey states these destinations as the most sustainable
European countries have been adopting green practices for a while in an attempt to reduce the effect of tourism on the environment. Recently, Iceland started a campaign to encourage fewer people to go on longer trips, while Italy is looking to launch new tourist trains to boost eco-friendly activities.
With respect to the top 20 most sustainable countries, Uruguay has shown tremendous improvement by jumping 15 spots up from last year, states the report. The full list is as follows:
- Sweden
- Finland
- Austria
- Estonia
- Norway
- Slovakia
- Slovenia
- Iceland
- Latvia
- Switzerland
- France
- Lithuania
- Denmark
- Czech Republic
- Germany
- Portugal
- Croatia
- Uruguay
- Romania
- Poland
The Sustainable Travel Index 2023 also highlights the most sustainable cities, which has Australia’s Melbourne on the top followed by Spain’s Madrid and Seville. Melbourne’s transition to renewable energy, hosting carbon-neutral events and retrofitting of buildings are some instances of its eco-friendly practices.
The top 10 green cities are:
- Melbourne
- Madrid
- Seville
- Stockholm
- Tallinn
- Toronto
- Palma de Mallorca
- Las Vegas
- Lisbon
- Munich
Additionally, regarding demand for sustainable tourism, Australia, Iceland and New Zealand are the top three destinations, adds the report.
Hero and featured image credit: Inès d’Anselme/Unsplash
Written By
Anushka Goel
Anushka has previously worked with publications such as the Times of India and Being Indian. A graduate from Xavier Institute of Communications, she specialises in entertainment, food and travel. She also likes to write about sustainability and beauty. When not working, you can catch her reading a book, tending to her plants, cooking or playing an instrument.
