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Looking into my crystal ball for 2009, I’m predicting a further increase in traditional holidays closer to home and a return to longer more classic travel experiences, as travellers aim to get maximum value from their holiday budgets.

I think 2009 will be one of the toughest years that the travel industry has ever faced. It’ll be tough for travellers too – many won’t take a holiday at all whilst others will cut out second and third holidays, choosing to stay at home – a ‘staycation’ – or with friends instead.

Those that can afford additional breaks will explore much closer to home, particularly as the pound drops in value against the Euro - allowing them to save up the pennies and the annual leave for a longer annual holiday which will come in the form of classic, special travel experiences – those unforgettable once in a lifetime trips.

Having made a tough choice to spend, travellers will want to ensure they are not disappointed and the ‘classic’ more dependable favourites – best in their category – will be the order of the day. Destinations such as Angkor Wat, Machu Picchu and the Masai Mara.

Incredible journeys such as the Trans Siberian railway, which epitomise slow and appreciative travel will be popular. And what could be more classic than a small group adventure holiday that takes in a number of destinations and experiences - proving great value for money too.

Destinations – England tops the list

This year, responsibletravel.com has seen England jump from 11th to 1st place in its most popular destination list, with enquiries for England holidays increasing by 97.

Classic Middle East destinations have also risen in popularity in 2008 – Syria by 94% and Jordan by 69%.

Cuba too has also increased 40% as travellers flock to the country before America lifts its travel embargo – predicted by many once Obama is in power.

The top 10 most popular destinations on responsibletravel.com in 2008 were as follows:

1) England
2) Egypt
3) Thailand
4) Greece
5) India
6) Tanzania
7) Italy
8) Turkey
9) Peru
10) Spain

New to this year’s top 10 is Turkey – deemed to be good value as it is outside the Euro zone, as well as Spain .

Kenya has dropped from 3rd place in 2007 to 13th place this year due to the troubles that took place early on in 2008.

The environmental cost of travel has been well discussed in the media, and tourism has taken a battering. In our hope to kick start a positive and forward thinking debate around the future of tourism last week we launched a new website http://www.futureoftourism.com , which lays out a vision for the future of the tourism industry and welcomes your ideas, thoughts and contributions.

The site is launched to coincide with the publication of a special dedicated ‘future of travel’ December issue of Geographical, the official magazine of the Royal Geographical Society and our media partner for this project. You can read the editorial from the magazine on the site – there’s articles on the future of hotels, transport, technology and travel trends in general.

I have written the lead article for the magazine which can be read in full here on the site.

We hope you’ll share your own views and visions on the sustainable future of our industry on the site.

The 2008 Responsible Tourism Awards were more competitive than ever before - we received nearly 2,000 public nominations!

The ceremony announcing the winners took place last week at World Travel Market on World Responsible Tourism Day. It was one of the most popular events of the day with a packed audience including tourist boards, tourism ministers, hoteliers, operators, students and members of the press.

New Zealand took away the honours for Overall Winner, as well as scooping Best Destination, as the judges felt the destination had proved to the world ‘that it is possible to develop a national strategy which uses tourism to help make better places to live and to visit.’

To discover all the winners in this year’s Awards, visit http://www.responsibletourismawards.com – not forgetting to browse through our wonderful magazine for the responsible traveller, r:travel which features all the winners and highly commendeds in depth at http://www.responsibletravel.com/rtravel2008

You can also read about all the winners and an article by Harold Goodwin, Chair of the Judges, in this weekend’s Telegraph.

The Awards lunch hosted by BBC World News to celebrate all the finalists was a new departure this year and it really added something to the day, giving guests the chance to hear the stories of some of the finalists, meet other key people in the industry, and enjoy a talk by John Simpson.

Watch footage by BBC World News’ Fast Track programme here.

We are great believers in tourism around the world that benefits local communities and conservation - we call it responsible tourism. Some people argue that we should not call tourism that involves a flight responsible because of aviation’s contribution to global warming.

The same arguments are made against fair trade products from communities in developing countries, or organic food from overseas farmers - they should not be called fair or organic (terms that indicate they are ‘better’) if they need to be flown in.

Small businesses and organisations like responsibletravel.com, the Soil Association and the Fair Trade movement are accused of ‘green-washing’ by making an effort to improve the industries that they work in, because flying is involved.

I’ve decided to start a new business - its going to be called irresponsibletravel.com. I will pursue profits at all costs and trample on everything and everyone in my way. This way I can be sure that nobody will be in the slightest bit interested or critical about what I do - it is after all how 90% of the tourism industry operates and nobody cares in the slightest.

My ideas are not to work to find holidays in the UK or those than can be reached by train as we spend much of our time doing. I’m going to sell really, really cheap overseas holidays with flights. To do this as cheaply as possible I will exploit staff by paying them a pitiful wage (they can always beg for tips from tourists), they will have no contracts (so I can get rid of them fast if need be) and no insurance.

I’m going to fly in cheap frozen food from the capital instead of trying to work with local food producers and farmers. I’m building 4 new restaurants in the resort, and have told tourists not to eat in local restaurants because they will get food poisoning or be mugged - this means I can make more money from every tourist.

It’s cheaper to build the new restaurants from concrete (flown in of course) than locally available renewable materials - bugger the insane amount of carbon required to make concrete. I’ll evict the villagers who live down the beach a bit to make room and chop down a few more trees.

Treating the sewage before its pumped out to sea is too expensive so I’ll scrap that to save money. I’m going to move some lights down the beach so that I can attract people who want to party late at night, I’m not bothered about disturbing the turtles nesting.

Finally, I’m going to organise bar crawls with half price cocktails through the old village where the locals like to sit out quietly at night, and try to get tourists as drunk as possible so that they remember that they’ve had a good time.

The truth is that if we agree that there is no such thing as responsible tourism (unless you stay at home) then we consign ourselves to a future of businesses like irresponsibletravel.com and we give up on the idea of trying to improve the industry.

The reality is that there will always be people flying on holiday - hopefully less than now as the price of flying increases. This means that there will always be a need to improve this industry - and this is what responsible tourism is about. People who choose to fly can make a better or more responsible choice of things to see and do, and places to stay when they arrive.

Incidentally I chose to call our business responsibletravel.com rather than sustainabletravel.com for one very good reason - holidays with flights are not truly sustainable!! Our holidays just have good impacts and negative impacts. Some are better than others, and that’s the ones we want you to choose.

Finally I think there is a feeling that flying on holiday is worse than buying things that involve transport or carbon intensive production (cars, houses, computers, food, medicines etc..) because its a frivolous rather than an essential activity. I find that a quite offensive idea. If you ask local people in tourism destinations who earn their living from tourism, or conservationists who fund all their work through tourism incomes, they will tell that you that tourism is essential for both their lives, their communities and the conservation of cultural and natural heritage.

So, while I quietly build my fortune from irresponsibletravel.com spare a thought for those who tried to improve the tourism industry but were told to stay at home…

This morning I was interviewed by Evan Davis on BBC Radio 4’s prestigous Today Programme about the rising trend of volunteer travel.

There’s no doubt that volunteer holidays have become much more accessible for people from all walks of life. In the past you needed to give up six months or even up to two years to go and volunteer. That’s no longer the case as there are now shorter trips on offer. It’s fantastic to see more and more people wanting to make a difference whilst on holiday.

However, I also highlighted the importance for volunteer holidays to be borne out of a real local need and raised my concerns that some trips can be inspired more by marketing departments in an effort to exploit a growing trend rather than being rooted in a local cause. This approach can leave volunteers feeling like they haven’t made a positive difference and local communities are left wondering where the benefit is too.

We have over 350 volunteer trips in the UK and overseas - see www.responsibletravel.com/volunteering - all have been carefully screened. I urge potential volunteers to do as much research as possible and ask plenty of questions of any potential volunteering company.

Here’s a five-point checklist to help you on your way to making a real difference:
1. Has the project been inspired by a real local need?
2. Is the project run in joint partnership with the local people?
3. Can you see an independent report on the benefits of the project to local people/environments?
4. Is there transparent information around costs and where the money goes?
5. Does the organisation take steps to match your skills to the needs of the project?

Hear the full Today Programme interview with Justin here.

Today The Observer published a critical article concerning ‘greenwashing’ in travel, with several references to us. We welcome debate around all the ethical issues in tourism, and have a policy of transparency and inviting feedback on how we might improve. However as some of our responses to the journalist have not been published in the article I’m going to reply in more detail here.

It is claimed that we have ‘appropriated’ the term responsible travel and appear that we are an ‘official industry portal’. I believe that in 2000 we were the first business to use the term responsible travel. A great many people told me that it was a stupid name (most people told me that tourists just want to have fun on holiday and don’t care about anything else), and a great many more people told me we would never make a business out of it. Since then we’ve worked extremely hard to build customer awareness of a different type of respectful travel.

Rather than appropriating ‘responsible travel’ we have spent 7 hard years trying to build consumer awareness of the concept from scratch. Nowhere have we ever claimed to be an ‘industry portal’, in fact quite the opposite - we’ve always been very proud of our business roots. No other business has yet tried to do this on our scale, but this is hardly our fault! It feels that we are being criticised for being too successful, after initially being told that we were mad to try -hey ho!

The writer picks on skiing holidays to Whistler and claims that many of our skiing holidays are long haul. A closer look at the winter holidays section on our site shows that the majority of them in fact involve shorter trips. Interestingly, the most popular destination on the site overall is now the UK. We spent a lot of time and effort increasing our UK holiday offer to ensure that this could happen.

However, it does raise the question of why we promote trips that do involve a longer flight. I firmly believe that all holidays, wherever they are, can and should be more responsible. Only in this way can we create widespread change in tourism and tourism destinations. Whistler is one of, if not the greenest resorts in North America. While, as above, we offer lots of UK and European winter sports, if the responsible traveller wants to go to the US - or lives there as 10-15% of our site visitors do - then Whistler is your best bet.

Providing a tour company meets our criteria for responsible tourism I make no judgements about whether they are independently owned or part of a larger group as this would be wholly unfair and unreasonable, and would confine responsible tourism to a niche and limit the change we can create - it they are good enough they are welcome.

Only 25% of the companies who approach us for membership end up meeting our criteria and joining our site. We publish their detailed responsible tourism polices on the site (example here), and specifics on responsible tourism on every single holiday page. Many of the hotels on the site are already accredited by by an independent scheme, however there is no such thing for trips. We publish unedited customer reviews concerning both the tourists experience and responsible tourism, and send every review back to the company who operate the holiday -this valuable feedback helps them improve their practices. Over the years we’ve removed 17 companies because we have not been able to be confident that they would meet our criteria.

On the subject of transparency I wish The Observer - a business which itself claims an ethical positioning - were as tough with choosing their reader offers (run by a company with no published policy for responsible tourism) and travel advertisers as we are with choosing the companies we promote!

We are criticised for charging tour companies a commission to be on the site. To my knowledge every travel agent in the world charges a commission, and we are no different except that ours is lower than most. This means that we have become an effective marketing channel for a great many small tour companies and hotels all over the world (including community based tourism ventures which are charged nothing).

The statement that tiny ecotourism businesses are less likely to be found on our site is badly informed and incorrect. We represent nearly 900 different organisations (tour operators and accommodations), most of which are small businesses. I’m very proud of the very many, very small companies that we’ve helped over the years, and of the benefits that tourism has brought to the people and destinations in which they operate. It is only by being a successful business that we’ve been able to do this - and I make no apology for that.

At the other end of the scale, we are fully aware of the considerable impact that large travel companies can make in encouraging adoption of responsible tourism practices throughout the industry - as is commented on towards the end of The Observer’s article, “…they have the power to make sure all their suppliers on the ground take action”. It is for this reason that back in 2004 we targeted 3 of the then big 4 travel companies to create and implement responsible tourism policies. This campaign was reported and recognised by The Observer at the time.

We also engage with larger operators through initiatives such as our annual Responsible Tourism Awards. We founded the Awards on the principle that all types of tourism – from niche to mainstream – can and should be operated in a way that respects and benefits destinations and local people, and that travel companies, individuals and organisations (big or small, businesses, charities or not-for-profits) who are leading the way should be celebrated to inspire others.

I think that some people get confused and think that only charities can create positive social and environmental change. In fact businesses and charities can, and indeed must do this if we are to create a better world. By proving that we can be commercially successful I think responsibletravel.com has done far more to persuade other businesses to follow suit than we would have done if we were a charity.

So, finally we welcome the debate and the scrutiny. There has been no route map for responsibletravel.com to follow, we are not perfect and we are determined to improve. I do, however, wish The Observer put as much scrutiny into some of the issues in mass tourism as they have into responsible tourism, as it is there that most of the impacts of tourism lie.

Read Harold Goodwin’s response here
Read Neilson’s response to The Observer article

Most people know that trains are better for the environment than cars and planes. It’s also an accessible, relaxing and enjoyable way to see more of the scenery and immerse yourself in the culture. Read more about travelling by train here. Have you taken an epic train journey? Maybe you’ve given up flying altogether? Or do you think train travel’s too expensive? Let us know by leaving a comment below…

It seems that more people than ever are thinking ‘green’ about their holidays and opting to travel by bike in their chosen destination.

At responsibletravel.com we’ve seen an incredible 86% increase in the number of people looking for cycling holidays this year. Read more about exploring by bike here.

Are you lean & green? Do you think cycling is the best way to see local life? Or is cycling all just too much like hard work on holiday? Let us know by leaving a comment below…

Community based tourism is one of the best kept secrets in the travel industry. There are all sorts of opportunities for communities to diversify into other sustainable industries such as fair trade goods, if they can get the right support. Read about how community based tourism & Fair Trade can change lives here.

Have you taken a community-run holiday? Is trade is the way forward? Do these outside influences change local cultures? Let us know your views by leaving a comment below…

responsibletravel.com has holidays all over the world, but we've not yet penetrated NYC. However read this article in The Guardian to see how issues of regeneration, communities and sense of place affect inner cities such as NYC as well as more remote communities. Responsible travel has a role to play in maintaining a sense of place and local distinctiveness (see my recent blog) and before long I see us offering holiday alternatives in big cities..

It's become de rigour for every environmental activist to tell us that we need to reduce carbon in order to save the planet. Recent articles and TV programmes have pointed out that the planet would do pretty well without us. Yes, some species would die out and others will be forced to move to survive - as they always have done - but without man as the dominant species many would thrive, rainforests would return etc...

At responsibletravel.com we are convinced that our holidays are more enjoyable than others (well we would wouldn't we - but look at the reviews as evidence!). We enjoy tourism experiences (whether through discovering the exotic closer to home or far away) that are locally distinctive - that is particular to that place only.

Tourism too often steamrollers over destinations and they become disneyfied, however the best responsible tourism celebrates (and sustains) the diversity of places, their cultures, people and environments.

The tourist enjoys a more authentic experience, and the destination sustains points of differences versus its competitors. Rather than seeing itself through the eyes of tourists and losing its identity the destination builds civic pride in its culture and history, and increases the benefits of tourism and spreads it more widely.

If you want to read more about this then I've been inspired by Common Ground, and two wonderful books - Waterlog (Roger Deakin) and Wild Places (Robert MacFarlane).

If sustained, the recent startling increases in the price of oil will have a severe impact on the tourism industry. BA has said that at current oil prices it will make no profit next year, and warned that many airlines will go out of business (indeed some already have). It remains to be seen how much of the price rise is due to basic laws of supply and demand, and how much is due to speculators but most commentators are not predicting a sharp fall any time soon.

Did you know it’s World Turtle Day tomorrow – May 23rd?

The annual day was created to help celebrate and protect turtles and tortoises and their disappearing habitats around the world. It is sponsored by American Tortoise Rescue (ATR), a nonprofit organization for the rescue, rehabilitation, adoption and protection of all species of tortoise and turtle.

Experts predict the complete disappearance of these creatures within the next 50 years. Tourism has a large role to play in ensuring the long-term protection of these creatures. As resorts have appeared along pristine coastlines, turtles and their nesting grounds have simultaneously been disappearing.

What can you do on holiday to help?
Do not go on the beach at night - you may disturb a turtle trying to nest or step on a hatchling
Do not use torches or flashlights on the beach at night - it can distract hatchlings on their way to the sea. If you are staying near the beach, ensure your lights are turned off after dusk, or ask your hotel to.
Do not buy any turtle products
Clear your sunbed and umbrella off the beach at night and don't leave any litter. It can obstruct the mother or trap the hatchlings, and plastic bags can in the sea be mistaken by turtles for jellyfish and ingested.

Read more about turtles and tourism here or view our turtle conservation holidays here.

Taking your family to far-flung destinations can be a daunting prospect, but there are many who have blazed a trail before you. Read independent reviews from families that have taken the plunge in Asia, Africa and Latin America in our trail blazing families article here. Are you a new parent? Have your kids grown up and gone on to take their own adventures? Let us know your experiences by leaving a comment...

We at responsibletravel.com tend to talk a lot about what travellers can do to benefit their travel destination and we like to offer advice on the best way to minimise impacts and how to support conservation projects. But we’re not all talk and last week we braved the rain to stop talking and take some action... Read about our volunteering day here.

For some, a hotel with a flat screen TV and Sky is luxury, but an increasing number of people leading very hectic, urban lives put a premium on tranquility, wide open spaces, abundant nature, and privacy from other people. For them wilderness is the new luxury...

Read the full article here and let us know how you feel about taking a wilderness experience!

Justin Francis invites your nominations for our Virgin Holidays Responsible Tourism Awards 2008, which celebrate the future of travelling in a sensitive, sustainable way - that benefits local people and destinations. Make a nomination and you could even win a holiday for 2 to India!

We need your help!
There are 13 categories this year including, for the first time, Best Responsible Cruise Operator. The cruise and ferry industry has received a great deal of attention recently concerning its impact on local environments and our aim is to encourage and reward positive and innovative changes.

Last year, we received more than 1,700 nominations from the public for tourist ventures across the globe. You are our eyes and ears – and conscience.

Do you have a favourite hotel or tour operator, in the UK or abroad, that you think is leading the way in this kind of tourism?

Perhaps you have visited a destination which particularly struck you in its commitment to responsible tourism?

Do you know someone who works in the tourism industry whose passion for thoughtful travel shines through?

We would love to hear from you before our deadline of Monday 16 June.

Read more about the launch here or nominate in the awards here.

Do you feel daunted by the prospect of planning your next holiday - overloaded with information, destinations and glossy images? We have compiled a few simple steps to guide you and help you find out what is the right trip for you. Take a look at our guide on choosing the right holiday here and let us know if you have any tips of your own.

Many people perceive responsible travel to be about paying a lot of money to stay in a mud hut on a deserted island somewhere in the middle of nowhere. We set the story straight here and we'd love to hear your views...

Today I was asked by The Times newspaper whether the tourism industry should be considering boycotting holidays to China in response to the issues in Tibet.

As the Dalai Lama himself has asked that we do not boycott the Olympics I believe that boycotting holidays to China is not the solution. If we were to take such a line, it would be the local people who would suffer, not the Chinese Government. Local communities around China, who benefit from tourism, would loose income as a result. I believe that choosing a responsible tour operator and travelling responsibly to China (and Tibet) will ultimately do more good than harm. By visiting China and Tibet, tourists bear witness to the situation – this is valuable and necessary if the Chinese Government is to face up to its issues and responsibilities. The more the world celebrates the cultural heritage of Tibet and Tibetans the more likely we are to move towards dialogue.

Should a responsible traveller by flying at all? Read my thoughts here . I'd love to hear your thoughts and comments that you can post here..

Tibet has become an increasingly popular destination on responsibletravel.com. We've hand-picked 28 of the very best holidays there, and last year it was our 49th most popular destination globally.

In January we did a survey for The Daily Telegraph of the 40 of the biggest travel companies in UK and their policies for responsible tourism. One of the companies we scored quite poorly was Europcar (car hire). Last weekend the Telegraph ran the following story -

Europcar plans to include data on average carbon emissions in all its vehicle descriptions to enable travellers to make greener decisions when hiring a car. The company will also offer information through its subsidiary, National. Earlier this year Europcar performed poorly in Telegraph’s environmental ratings..

We very pleased to see this initiative from Europcar. I'll be booking a greener car with them next time...

I recently contributed to the following article on Slow Travel in Ode Magazine

Inspired by the slow food movement, growing ranks of people want to remember their vacations as something more than a blur of cramped plane rides, rushed sightseeing tours, gobbled fast food and long lines at the rental car counter. They're motivated by an indefatigable sense of adventure as well as a taste for authentic experience.

Slow travel doesn't mean reigning in your curiosity about seeing the world, notes Mark Ellingham, founder of the Rough Guides travel book series. I would say just the opposite. It gives you a better chance to experience the world. On many holidays today, you feel like you are just being dropped off somewhere, like a package.

And flying less often, Ellingham believes, doesn't have to involve sacrifice in either comfort or fun: If you live in London, youd have to be partly insane to want to fly to Paris today. Its not faster than the Eurostar train and its much more hassle.

Slow travel advocates like Ellingham recognize that trains, boats or bikes don't work for every journey we want to take. That's why he and Tony Wheeler, founder of the Lonely Planet travel guides, developed a travel campaign with the motto, fly less, stay longer. Treat yourself to an adventure, in other words, by spending a leisurely amount of time at just one faraway destination.

Slow travel, like the slow food movement, is based around the idea of savouring what a local area has to offer, points out Justin Francis, co-founder of the UK travel directory ResponsibleTravel.com. The slow traveller visits fewer places but really gets to know each of them. It leaves you with a greater understanding of local people and places.
Those places can even be close to home.

Part of the idea of slow travel is, at least part of the time, to visit places closer to home, says Ellingham. I think theres growing interest in this. At Rough Guides, we started with foreign places like Greece and Spain and were surprised, when we finally got around to publishing books about our own backyard in England, how well they sold.

The world's first solar-powered electric bus has recently been launched in Adelaide, South Australia and is being used to transport commuters in the city. The bus has been named Tindo, the Kaurna Aboriginal word for 'sun' and is recharged using solar energy generated by a solar photovoltaic system installed on the roof of the new Adelaide Central Bus Station.

South Australia is certainly not short of sunlight so it's great to see it being put to good use.