We travel as we live and we travel as we think
We travel as we live and we travel as we think. Increasingly, when we pack we keep our clothes, mobile phone charger, passport and… our valuables in it. We are the same when we are 5,000 kilometers away as when we are at home.
The journey of the present (or of the utopian present) is the transformative journey. There is a breed of travelers that does not seek disconnection, but reconnection. To this new public, aware, overinformed, the water charter sounds frivolous and unnecessary. Actually, it was never used. The butler works well in the English period series, but we can prepare a bath ourselves.
When we are in a hotel we are still concerned with the same issues as when we are at home and we want to feel connected to those places where we choose to spend our vacations. We want to invest our money and our enthusiasm in something that will leave us a beautiful mark.
But what exactly is vacation activism?
All these are words, comfortable words. Let's not be lazy. "The real impact is not in words, but in action," says Rob Holzer, founder of Matter Unlimited, creative agency specializing in “the economy with purpose”.
Holzer expanded on this theme at ** Ministry of Ideas **, a series of conferences that took place in Miami in June in which there was a lot of talk about conscious consumption and respectful luxury. He insisted on a nuance: "It's not just about doing good, but about doing it creatively."
These are just a few examples of vacation activism conceived with imagination and purpose. Plans for the summer? Take care of the planet.
“The real impact is not in the words, but in the action”
An initiative that is spreading ocean cleanups. You read that right: hotels and private companies that organize activities to clean the beach.
In Miami, a city that lives in permanent contact with the sea, these actions increase for weeks. Plastic is public enemy number one and all efforts are directed against it, although the rest of the waste is also cleaned
The ** 1 Hotel South Beach ** organized in June an activity consisting of a beach clean-up and mezcal cocktails at the neighboring Generator and Broken Shaker bars. Clean, yes, but as part of an immersive experience.
The company ** Debris Free Oceans ** organizes cleanup groups in different areas of Florida that unites the cleanup to yoga classes, craft beer tastings or essential oil workshops. Her yoga clean-ups naturally spread throughout Miami and no one finds them eccentric. Removing dirt from the sea is good, making it social is smart.
Some large hotels also feel a responsibility to help clean their environment. In **Bali** (an island much less clean than it should be), the Legian Seminyak has teamed up with other hotels in the area and arranged 'Clean Seminyak'.
This initiative involves hotel staff and guests and seeks clean the beaches and nearby streets of garbage and waste. Every day, in addition, the hotel beach is cleaned.
Other places in Indonesia are also taking it seriously. ** Bawah Reserve ** is a reserve made up of six tropical islands that is only accessible by helicopter. This eco resort is between Malaysia and Borneo and pay so much attention both design and sustainability.
The hotel offers guests the possibility of contribute to the Anambas Foundation by participating in beach cleanups and coral planting.
Bawah Reserve, a tropical and sustainable paradise
It smells like sea salt in here. Let's go to the bottom of the sea , but first let's launch an idea. Doesn't it sound tense to dedicate our vacations to carrying out an activity of this type? No. Not anymore. Actions like the one organized by the highly recommended ** Kimpton Angler's ** in Miami force you to think while remaining enjoyable.
The hotel proposes an activity called ' Rescue-a-Reef with us' (Rescue a coral with us). The idea stems from a partnership with the Benthic Ecology and Coral Restoration Lab at the University of Miami, which works to repopulate the shores of Miami Beach with corals.
The hotel has its own reef at coordinates 25.659617° -80.097550° and invites guests to visit it and learn about it. how important coral is as a natural resource. It is an activity that lasts half a day; on this mini-cruise you can dive or snorkel while authorized guides explain the value of conserving this animal.
Meanwhile, you chat with your shipmates, sunbathe and have an exquisite picnic. around the corner, You not only come back loaded with vitamins and energy, but also knowing more about corals. More contemporary, impossible.
The Kimpton Angler's Hotel and its initiative to repopulate the corals of the Miami Beach coast
Adopt or protect animals It is an activity that some hotels located in areas where species are in danger resort to. ** Nihi Sumba is a project conceived under the banner of so-called conscious luxury.** It is on an island near Bali, twice its size and… virgin.
There is no choice but accompany nature in everything. This resort, in an attempt to help protect the islands' manta rays, has partnered with Rascal Voyages to offer a rather unusual marine conservation activity.
Those who dare travel through different islands of Indonesia in this yacht phinisi , beautiful, it can accommodate up to ten people. The participants are not only Witnesses to the work of scientists on the ground (or rather, in the sea) but help them; also participate in exploratory dives with the experts to get closer to the animals.
If a few years ago we were told that extreme luxury consists of mark giant stripes accompanying scientists would have raised eyebrows.
Nihi Sumba, to the flag of conscious luxury
Let's continue with the animals: the turtles are popular among hotels with this desire for preservation. The problem is that not all countries have turtles and, to complicate matters, there are not many left.
For this reason, those that exist must be controlled and cared for. They do exist on ** Jumby Bay , a private island off Antigua where there is only one resort;** in fact, island and resort (belonging to the Oetker Collection) have the same name.
This private and exquisite place does not forget the privilege of being in a place of nature so pure and organized turtle adoptions. Guests can participate in the island's 'Adopt-a-Turtle' program.
Donors will be able to give your hawksbill sea turtle a name and follow its adventures in the Caribbean by satellite. Jumby Bay Island also notifies each donor when their turtle returns to the island to nest and when their hatchlings emerge from the sand.
This species of turtles is critically endangered and, when they are your neighbors, it is inevitable to take care of them.
On the island of Jumby Bay you can adopt turtles and follow them by satellite
Let's leave the beach and sit around a table; the planet can also be cared for more calmly. The hotels Six Senses , who understand sustainability at its core, always organize their activities with nature and ecology in mind.
All its hotels have, since 2017, a project called Earth Lab, a kind of laboratory that is the link with the sustainability policy of the hotels.
There, moreover, there are workshops and classes to learn how to consume and eat in the most responsible and local way possible. For example, in the ** Six Senses Douro ** workshops on pickles, yogurts and teas are organized.
in them you learn how to pickle organic garden produce, how to produce yogurts without using electricity and how to dehydrate herbs to make tea infusions. The idea is to finish the workshop with new habits. This is also a way to travel with the values in the suitcase, or to germinate new values.
Not all the initiatives are foreign nor do they all belong to extreme luxury, that which surpasses the stars. Iberostar is a good example of what a label can do with more than one hundred 4 and 5 star hotels.
The Mallorcan company, which walks hand in hand with sustainability, offers environmental actions for guests throughout the year. The chain organizes educational activities that revolve around the environment in its Star Camp, its children's entertainment program.
It also has a recently opened coral laboratory , in which educational workshops are held. The oceans and corals have become VIP clients of many hotels.
Vacation activism is a perfect target for cynics. Who is a big hotel to give me a bad conscience? Why can't I just be sunbathing and clean the beach? Do I, as a traveler who already invests in an area, have to be the one to take responsibility for its conservation?
The answer is complex and not very definitive. It may have to do with the fact that the lack of trust in institutions translates into a wave of personal activism that does not stop during vacations; also with the fact that well-traveled travelers demand moments that mean something, that impact them: they do not want places or people to pass them without touching them and vice versa.
Or with the fact that sensitivity has always been a good travel companion.
Well-traveled travelers demand moments that mean something