SEATTLE—Sustainable Travel International has released Sustainable Travel: Where Next?, an all-new documentary series that highlights how the global travel and tourism sector is taking action to protect our planet and its treasured destinations. The series debuted as the international community celebrated World Tourism Day and acknowledges the important role that tourism plays in sustainable development.
Using high-end cinematography, Sustainable Travel: Where Next? takes viewers on a different kind of a journey, exploring sustainability initiatives that are transforming tourism all around the world. The series is a collection of 16 short-form documentary films produced by Zinc Communicate, a Zinc Media Group company, each spotlighting a different tourism destination or organization. From the beaches of Barbados to the urban heart of Norway, the series brings to life uplifting stories of conservation, regeneration, inclusion, empowerment, and resilience.
In recent years, awareness of tourism’s impacts reached an all-time high, with travelers becoming more cognizant of the burden that the traditional model of tourism was placing on sensitive places and overvisited communities. Sustainable Travel: Where Next? offers hope for the future and embodies this year’s World Tourism Day theme: “Rethinking Tourism.” From farm-to-table culinary experiences to recycling and reuse programs, each episode showcases real-life examples of sustainable travel in action and emphasizes the local voices behind these efforts.
‘Powerful, Uplifting Stories’
“This series aims to captivate and inspire viewers to take action within their own lives or professional roles to further sustainable travel,” said Paloma Zapata, CEO of Sustainable Travel International. “Over the past two years, people spent a lot of time looking back and reflecting on the harmful effects of tourism and everything that’s gone wrong. Now is the time to look forward and as we do so, it is more important than ever to be telling powerful, uplifting stories that encapsulate the positive side of tourism, and its potential to conserve our planet and create social benefit.”
“It has been an incredible journey producing this series—we’ve captured stories from all around the world, filming with the passionate people at the forefront of this inspiring movement,” said Elizabeth Fisher-Robins, Director of Film at Zinc Media Group and the series’ Executive Producer. “But the hard work isn’t over yet, it’s up to us all to come together to change the way people travel responsibly for generations to come.”
The destinations and organizations featured in the series are as follows: Coulibri Ridge, Destination Greater Victoria, Explore Edmonton, Park City Utah, Six Senses, Sonoma County Tourism, South Western Railway, Sustainable Travel International, St Kitts Ministry of Tourism, Tourism Australia, Town of Vail, Visit Barbados, Visit Denmark, Visit Ljubljana, Visit Oslo, and YHA Australia.
To mitigate the environmental footprint of the film production, Zinc Communicate is partnering with Sustainable Travel International to offset the main sources of carbon emissions: crew flights, accommodations, and ground transport.
Sustainable Travel: Where Next? can be streamed online at sustainabletravel.org/where-next and is also available on Sublime Magazine.
