How we travel: a look at sustainable travel habits

Now in its eighth year, Booking.com’s annual Sustainable Travel Report has gathered insights from over 33,000 travellers across 35 countries and territories and reveals some eye-opening trends in travel. It highlights how economic uncertainty is informing sustainable travel decisions in 2023 – with people facing the dilemma of potentially feeling forced to choose between cutting costs and making more sustainable travel choices.

Sustainability is clearly front of mind, with three-quarters of travellers believing people need to act now to save the planet for future generations. Recent climate change news is a key influence for 53%, who say that it has encouraged them to try to make more sustainable choices. And yet, while nearly half (49%) think that environmental issues will worsen in the next six months, 64% believe the cost of living crisis will, too; this leaves people unsure of what to prioritise as they strive to reconcile their conflicting concerns.

Read on to discover more about global sustainable travel in 2023.

The cost of living crisis and the climate crisis are two huge topics at the front of people’s minds. Over three quarters (76%) of travellers say they want to travel more sustainably over the coming 12 months.

But the same amount of people feel trapped between a rock and a hard place – nearly half of those asked feel that they must make a choice between sustainability and spending, with 49% believing more sustainable travel options are too expensive. On the other hand, there are others who feel a greater sense of urgency for environmentally conscious travel choices – with 43% willing to pay more for options with sustainable certification.

But it’s not just cost stopping people from travelling more sustainably; it’s also about lack of choice. Over half (51%) of travellers in 2023 believe there are not sufficient sustainable travel options, which 74% of people believe should be offered by travel companies.

And of the travellers keen to travel more sustainably, a huge proportion of them don’t even know where to find more environmentally friendly options; 75% seek authentic local tours and cultural activities that give back to the community they visit, yet 40% don’t know how or where to book such experiences.

Despite financial constraints, 80% of travellers say that travelling more sustainably is important to them. These travellers are trying to make a difference by making small changes both at home and while staying in hotels or holiday rentals – encouragingly, today 68% use reusable shopping bags, 64% recycle waste and 58% carry their own reusable water bottle.

More than three-quarters (77%) say they turn off the lights and appliances at the place they’re staying when they aren’t there, while almost half (45%) now recycle their rubbish when travelling. People are also making more environmentally conscious choices on holiday when it comes to transportation, with 43% now planning their sightseeing so that they can walk, cycle or take public transport. Meanwhile, 43% try to travel outside of peak season in a bid to avoid overcrowding and most adopt the ‘buy local’ mantra while on holiday, with 43% favouring small, independent shops.

It is clear that – even amid rising climate anxiety – travellers are becoming more responsible consumers, with two thirds wanting to leave the places they visit better than when they arrived. 65% of travellers would feel better about staying in a particular property if they knew it had a sustainable certification or label, while 59% want to filter their options for those with a sustainable certification next time they book.

The travel industry must adapt to meet the expectations of sustainably minded consumers in the face of the climate crisis. Still, with one in four (39%) travellers today not trusting that the sustainable travel options labelled are truly more sustainable, there are huge strides for the travel industry to make in gaining the trust of consumers.

In addition to revelations about global travel habits, the data also pulled up some interesting divergence between markets when it comes to sustainability. Now, we’ll take a deep dive into the sustainable travel data of individual countries.

According to Booking.com’s research, travelling more sustainably is less important to those from the US (74%) than the global average. US travellers' answers suggested they are less likely to plan sightseeing trips that utilise public transport (31%), and less likely to travel outside of peak season with a view to avoid overcrowding (37%).

44% of travellers in the US were less likely to trust that the options labelled as sustainable are truly sustainable, while the same percentage of travellers felt encouraged to be sustainable by recent climate news (which is less than the global average global average).

For 76% of travellers from the UK, travelling more sustainably is less important than for the global average. UK tourists are less likely to plan their sightseeing around using public transport, and are also cynical about certifications or labels.

48% are less interested than the global average in filtering properties for sustainable certifications, and are less likely than the global average to trust options labelled as sustainable to be truly more sustainable (47%).

For Spanish tourists, travelling sustainably is more important (87%) – particularly over the coming 12 months – than it is to the global average. Tourists from Spain are also more likely to turn off air conditioning in properties when they aren’t there, are more likely to use reusable shopping bags, are more likely to favour independent shops and are more likely to recycle when travelling.

Finally, 70% of Spanish travellers are more likely to be reassured by a sustainable certification or label for a property they are staying at. But they are much less convinced (52%) than the global average (39%) that they can truly trust sustainable labels as equating to more sustainability.

Compared to the global average, tourists from Mexico say that travelling sustainably is much more important to them (91%). And they are also much more interested in doing so over the coming 12 months (90%). 73% of Mexican tourists are more likely to feel better about staying in a particular property if it has a sustainable certification or label, as well as more keen than the global average to be able to filter places to stay for sustainable certifications.

Finally, Mexican travellers are more likely than the global average to want travel companies to offer sustainable travel choices, and 75% are more interested in learning why specific options are recognised as sustainable.

Travellers from Colombia are more interested in travelling sustainably than the global average, including over the coming 12 months. In terms of sustainable options, 74% of Colombian tourists are more likely to feel better about a particular place to stay if they know it has a sustainable certification or label.

They are more likely than the global average to want travel companies to offer more sustainable options (84%), more likely to want to filter places to stay based on sustainable certification next time they book (73%), and are more interested in learning why specific properties are recognized as more sustainable (76%).

In terms of a general attitude towards travel, Italian tourists are more likely than the global average to consider sustainability in their plans. They are more determined (79%) than the global average to make sustainable choices when travelling now than a year ago, with recent news about climate change having been a major influence.

Travellers from Italy are more interested in learning about why a specific option received a certification (73%) than the global average. But at the same time, they seem less confident than the global average about whether properties labelled as sustainable are actually more sustainable. And also seem more convinced than the global average that there aren’t enough sustainable options, or that it’s too hard to find these options.

Over half (66%) of travellers from Germany want more sustainable options to be offered by travel companies, while 60% are more conscious about sustainable choices while travelling than a year ago. When it comes to future plans, German travellers are more likely than the global average to travel more sustainably in the coming 12 months, and more likely to embrace travels closer to home.

However, they are less likely to buy into more sustainable options, finding that they’re often too expensive. And are also less likely to trust that travel options labelled as being more sustainable are actually more sustainable.