Ultimate tips for being the perfect guest abroad

This summer turned a little sour for some travellers, who were greeted by anti-tourist protests, destinations filled beyond capacity, and graffiti encouraging them to go home.

Some popular destinations, which are usually delighted to welcome visitors, are simply becoming overwhelmed. This can lead to the negative sentiment a lot of tourists saw this summer, despite many of the local economies depending on tourism.

We're all about making sure you have a hassle-free trip, which is why we put together our Good Trip Index – an easy way for you to pick your next holiday destination based on what matters to you. It's also why we've now teamed up with leading climate scientists and the Travel Foundation to offer some simple tips to make your next trip a bit more responsible, so that the people you're visiting will be pleased to see you.

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Our tips to travel better

1. Pick destinations that aren't suffering from overtourism

In some destinations, local people are vocal and clear that they'd like fewer visitors. Other locations are crying out for the money and connections that visitors bring. So if you're picking a holiday destination, do a little research beforehand as the best thing holidaymakers can do to avoid exacerbating this problem is choosing their destination with care.

2. Be sensitive to local issues

In some places, local people are concerned about over-tourism because short-term holiday rentals make rents unaffordable. Barcelona, for example, has seen protests and anti-tourist sentiment because holiday lettings have made housing relatively less affordable for local residents. In other destinations, protests have focused on water depletion - in the Canaries, for example, that's one of the biggest concerns. In others it's simply overcrowding. Santorini and Venice have both implemented tourist taxes to discourage the sheer number of visitors who were arriving by cruise ship.

Many of these issues are, inevitably, a matter for local political solutions. Barcelona's officials plan to limit short-term holiday lets and ultimately eliminate them by 2029.

But once you understand the local grievances, it's easier to travel in a way that's sensitive to them. Water is less stressed in the Canaries outside high season. Staying in a hotel in Barcelona doesn't exacerbate the rents crisis. It's often possible to visit a destination that has experienced anti-tourist sentiment in such a way as to be welcomed and not make the problem worse.

3. Get money into the local economy

Much of the reason for anti-tourist sentiment is when tourists crowd to a destination but don't bring any benefit to local people or small businesses.

The complaint in Venice, Santorini and many other popular locations is mostly against cruise ships, whose passengers disembark to fill the streets and then go back to their ships at the end of the day without bringing much or any money into the local economy compared to holidaymakers who book rooms, meals and entertainments.

In destinations where the tourist resorts are kept separate from the local shops, restaurants, bars and attractions, the problem can be that visitors who don't venture out don't bring much benefit to the local economy. Try staying in town, using the local facilities and not just staying in an isolated resort.

By being sensitive to the nuances of the local dynamic between visitors and the people who live there, you can avoid exacerbating the problems.

4. Visit off-season

Water, power and food can all become strained during high season. Consider visiting when places are quieter – you'll have the streets, the bars and the sights to yourself, and you'll be putting less stress on local resources. (This can be a bit more difficult if you have kids to consider though - everyone understands that school holidays are when they are.)

5. Live like the locals

Instead of staying in an all-inclusive resort, which will tempt you with unlimited food and drinks, try and stay somewhere independent or family-run. This might be in a district of the destination more popular with locals, giving you more opportunity to shop and dine with local businesses and support the economy.

Take some time to learn about what the local community cares about, dress respectfully if you need to and move quietly through religious and other significant buildings.

6. Make every trip count

Fly shorter distances – Long-haul flights generate significantly more carbon than shorter ones. So if you're going on that bucket-list trip to the other side of the world, consider staying out there for longer and making the most of it rather than popping there and back.

Stay longer, fly less often – Since every flight generates carbon, lots of short hops are less efficient than flying somewhere and settling in to get to know the place.

Fly direct – Much of the impact of a flight is the take-off and landing – you can reduce that impact by only flying direct. Every time you change planes, that's another take-off and another landing.

Combine a holiday with work – Many of us can work from anywhere now, and employers often offer schemes allowing people to spend a week or two working from anywhere in the world as a standard perk. If you're flying overseas already, why not extend your trip and spend a few days, or even a week or two, working from the place you've gone to visit?

Travel by land – Not every trip has to involve a flight. For short distances or nearby continental Europe you can take the car through the Channel Tunnel, or just go as a foot passenger on the Eurostar. Interrail tickets are a good way to get around the continent without flying too.

7. Pick flights, and airlines, that limit the climate impact

Many flight finders will show you the carbon footprint of a flight. Since this is normally calculated per head, picking airlines with more efficient routes or planes, or airlines that fly full, can reduce that carbon footprint.

8. Use the Holiday Extras Good Trips Index

Our Good Trips Index is an annual meta-index of seven excellent data sets created by experts in the fields of sustainable travel, human rights, economic wellbeing and other ethical factors. It helps holidaymakers pick destinations that meet their own criteria for a good trip. Using our Good Trips Index can help you pick a holiday destination that's more sustainable, further reducing the impact of your trip.

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