Increasing Number of Airbnb Customers Booking Eco-Friendly / Sustainable Options

Airbnb has reported that a growing number of customers are looking at how they can reduce the impact that their travels have on the environment. In the last year alone:

• More than 4.5 million guests around the world checked in at eco-friendly listings on the platform;

• Global bookings between 1 April 2018 and 1 April 2019 increased by 50% for environmentally-conscious spaces; and

• Eco-friendly listings between 1 April 2018 and 1 April 2019 grew 30% globally over the previous year.

With mass tourism a key revenue earner for the country and having welcomed almost 40 million tourist arrivals in 2018, Thailand’s legacy destinations and natural resources are increasingly under pressure from the economics of mass tourism and environmental change.

Today, more and more Thai Airbnb hosts are providing guests with the opportunity to immerse themselves in nature and reduce their carbon footprint while away from home.

Asia Pacific destinations with the highest percentage of eco-friendly listings include:

• Trat, Thailand
• Sabah, Malaysia
• Rāmnagar, India
• South Grafton, Australia
• Niseko, Japan
• Gangwon, South Korea
• Lugu, Taiwan

Destinations with the highest percentage of eco-friendly listings on Airbnb are considered small-town escapes from the hustle and bustle of their surrounding major cities. Examples of which include a treehouse in a teakwood forest in Thailand, an eco bamboo hideout in the mountains of Bali’s Mount Agung and an eco-luxe recycled shipping container in Australia.

Some popular eco-friendly nature-themed experiences in Thailand are:

• Unseen Doi Inthanon National Park Chiang Mai, Thailand
• Grand Canyon Thailand Nature Walk, Chiang Mai, Thailand
• Bamboo Bicycle Tour in Green Bangkok!, Bangkok, Thailand
• Hiking to Nateen View Point, Krabi, Thailand
• Visit Authentic Hill Tribe Villages, Chiang Mai, Thailand

Airbnb’s Community Tourism Programme recently partnered with My Green Trip, a growing network of eco-friendly travelers dedicated to organizing community clean-ups and sharing sustainable travel habits. This year, the company is also committing 5 million euros to support efforts to make travel more authentic and sustainable.

In China, Airbnb has signed a MOU with Friends of Nature, a prominent NGO focusing on environmental protection issues, to promote sustainable tourism in China, host a series of lectures to educate the Airbnb community on sustainable tourism, and conduct workshops for hosts on sustainable hospitality standards and practices.

See more: Pictures from Sisaket (ศรีสะเกษ) Province, Thailand.

See latest HD Video Interviews, Podcasts and other news regarding: Airbnb, Sustainable, Sisaket, Khon Kaen, Roi-Et, Ubon Ratchathani.