Hi Ashley – thanks for sharing your point of view on this one. You’re right that all inclusives often do employ locals and if they’re paying them a fair wage then that’s great. Unfortunately many employers aren’t transparent about this. However, environmentally all-inclusives tend to be much worse than local guesthouses or bnbs, and their profits are often also farmed out of the country and don’t contribute to the local economy whereas with locally-owned guesthouses that money goes direct to locals. As for food hygiene standards, I think this really depends and I certainly haven’t always found it the case. Many local restaurants and guesthouses have high hygiene standards and are not making food at such large scale as the resorts.

Hi Aakansha – That’s wonderful to hear and thanks for reading. It’s always great to hear from others who are on their own conscious journey!

Love & Light,
Aakansha from themavenlifestyle.com

Hey Fiona and Russell,

Thanks for your kind message and sharing your thoughts. Carbon emissions is a big one and a difficult issue when legislation really needs to be coming from higher up the chain rather than solely relying on individuals. Pressure from individuals is what we need to see that change start to happen though.

It’s an interesting debate and one I think people need to be careful around. There’s a distinction to be made between ‘green washing’ (trying to deceive a consumer about how environmentally-friendly something is for financial gain) and ‘trying to be green’ (those doing their best to make a positive environmental impact and mitigate negative impacts, educate others etc even if they are not 100% green). I personally mostly consider bloggers to fall into this second category because there’s really a lot less financial gain to be made in blogging by perusing eco/green content over broader industry content. I’m sure there are exceptions, though I don’t know of any personally, although there is a point to be made around the promotion of ‘consumerism’ even around eco products. Businesses on the other hand may tend towards intentionally green washing in order to make a larger financial gain – the debate going on with H&M and other fast fashion high street retailers being a current example of this. Large chain hotels often fall into the same category here by trying to promote insignificant sustainability initiatives (e.g. no plastic straws) whilst being huge contributors to environmental problems (mass laundry, pumping air con, concreting jungles etc).

Really great approach and thank you for sharing. Your blog has really inspired us to start making more conscious efforts while travelling. We have linked to your site for helpful resources for our readers. Unfortunately, carbon emissions seem to be the biggest contributor so we will similarly work towards slow travel.

As well as greenwashing from businesses, there seems to be a debate about greenwashing from bloggers/influencers too. What are your thoughts on this?

Thanks again, we love your blog.

Hi Aaron, thanks for your comment. Love your blog too! Yes, I agree, it treats green travel as though it’s a trend that’s in fashion and misses the core concept that sustainable travel needs to be the only way that we travel. I think it has to come down to consumers choosing smarter too, spending their money with companies that are green and sustainable and showing there’s a demand for greener travel. The more that happens, the more we will force un-sustainable companies to rethink their products.

Great photo of the local food too. What a plate. Must have been hungry.

Have seen the term greenwashing around a bit lately. It’s a bit sad. As the push for more eco and sustainable options become more popular, there are a lot of companies jumping on board!

Think it really is up to us as consumers to choose smarter!