Ethical travelling is becoming more important, and the way we travel is being affected as a result. Traditional package style holidays and city breaks are beginning to be shunned in favour of experience holidays where holidaymakers can learn new skills or embark on satisfying adventures and voyages of discovery. Looking for more ethical and sustainable travel options can help to deal with the issue of over-tourism that many cities are now facing.
The Benefits of Comparison Websites
Finding the right holiday can be difficult, but there are plenty of tools out there to help you find travel and accommodation options that suit your lifestyle and requirements, whether it be reducing your carbon footprint by looking at methods of travel that don’t involve flying, to picking a hotel that provides an exclusively vegan diet. When you think of comparison websites you probably think of expensive TV ad campaigns featuring gimmicks such as furry animals with Russian accents and annoying opera singers. But comparison sites can be useful, and whatever leisure activity you are interested in or product you are thinking of purchasing, there is probably a comparison website out there that can help you make your choice.
In fact, many people are beginning to rely exclusively on comparison sites before making any decisions as a consumer. For example, if you are a gamer looking for the best sites in the UK to play casino games or you are a sports betting fan seeking a suitable bookmaker, comparison websites can help you find the right option for you. This could mean seeking out casinos with the most generous sign-up bonuses or sportsbooks with the best odds or choice of wagering options. The important thing is that they are there to serve the consumer, not the companies they are promoting. The same is true for travel comparison sites.
Finding Ethical Accommodation
Comparison websites are a popular tool for searching for hotel rooms. They let you filter results to match your exact criteria which you can then compare side by side to find your perfect option. The same is true for restaurants and many other leisure services which can be compared side-by-side from a single website.
But you should think about what type of accommodation you are booking. Some cities, such as Barcelona and Amsterdam, have been suffering because local accommodation is being rented out to tourists, pushing locals and younger people out of the marketplace. If you bear this in mind you can focus your search on accommodation options that are not having such an impact on local neighbourhoods.
Traditional hotels can offer a more ethical choice of accommodation than rented apartments. Hotels are purpose-built for tourism and provide jobs for the local workers rather than just putting money in the pockets of landlords. And by choosing a hotel close to the sites you want to see and the activities you want to pursue, you can minimise the amount of transport that you use during your stay.
By using a comparison site, you can even find hotels that will rent you bicycles for the duration for your stay to avoid the need for any public transport. The top comparison websites even let you filter which chain of hotels you want to search for so you can filter out brands who may have a poor ethical reputation.
Comparison websites may not seem like an obvious tool for ethical travellers but they offer a convenient and time-efficient way of planning your trip while allowing you to search for specific options based on your requirements.
