WHITE SALMON, WASH.—Sustainable Travel International has launched Green.travel. Green.travel’s focus is to connect environmentally, socially, and economically responsible travelers with sustainable travel companies globally. Founded in 2002, STI is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to providing education and outreach services in the travel industry to support environmental conservation and to protect cultural heritage while promoting cross-cultural understanding and economic development.
Green.travel has been years in the planning. Based on what Alexia Nestora, spokesperson, calls “meticulous research,” the new website anticipates surfacing quickly to the top of Google searches for people looking for eco-friendly travel options.
Green.travel will help people learn about sustainable travel practices and even change the way they travel. The site will list sustainable travel companies. An online booking program will automatically take 1 percent of a client’s reservation costs and donate it to a sustainable travel initiative.
Multiple Green Travel Goals
“In the coming months,” says Nestora, “we’re hoping that large to small travel companies that support the principles of sustainable travel will immediately recognize the benefits to them and their ideals by becoming part of Green.travel. Our vision, as we state on our home page, is ‘that through working together, trip by trip, we can protect the environment, preserve authentic cultural heritage and promote the social and economic well-being of local communities.’”
A one-stop-shopping array of a rich variety of accommodations, tours, cruises and activities will bring desired preferences within a few clicks to a client. Travel companies will also be rated through a five-step program in regards to their sustainability practices and how deeply imbedded these are. An online directive assists companies that want to be rated and move up the five-rung rating ladder, with those scoring highest on sustainability ratings listed at the top in their respective categories.
Because the object of Green.travel is the environment, and not, as is normal, money, there are no commission fees or similar monetary incentives involved in any of the online recommendations, bookings or transactions, notes Nestora.
Go to www.green.travel.
