Micro Tourism: A New Eco-Friendly Travel Style

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Micro tourism, a covid travel trend that’s here to stay. But what is it? And why will it stay? Learn all about the benefits here!

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A big issue in the travel industry is the impact on the environment. Depending on your way of transportation, traveling usually emits quite some carbon dioxide.

I personally have heard stories of people who don’t want to travel to different continents, or even less, just because them flying there would have such an environmental impact. They prefer to stay closer to home.

In some cases, this results in micro tourism.

And let’s not forget traveling can get quite expensive and time consuming. Kill two birds with one stone and travel closer to home!

What is micro tourism?

Micro tourism is a relatively new style of travel. The trips are about one to two hours from home. It’s meant to (re)discover your nearby surroundings.

I know we all would like to keep this time in our past, but Covid really jumpstarted this travel style because of  several reasons.

First of all, people didn’t really travel anymore, if they even got out of their own city at all. Situations were very unpredictable and seemed to change from day to day and no one really wanted to get stuck in another country overnight.

The desire to travel stayed for a lot of people, so they decided to find ways to travel closer to home.

Honestly, there is so much to see and to do in your direct surroundings. You may just not have seen it yet.

Read more: 13 Creative & Budget-friendly Ways To Be A Tourist In Your Own City 

Second, it has made people more aware of the importance of local businesses. Smaller businesses had a hard time during lockdowns, so more and more people wanted to support them. By traveling locally they could financially help them out.

Micro tourism benefits

Little and/or light luggage

When you don’t travel that far, you don’t need to go on week long vacations. This allows you to pack way less than you usually would.

If you’re someone who never knows what to pack, micro trips are perfect for you too. You know the climate and terrain. You even know what people in that area usually wear. Packing will be a breeze.

Little luggage also means little laundry. Talk about a win-win situation!

Fall in love with your surroundings (again)

Usually when you have been living in the same area for a while, you start to forget the special things in your surroundings. You look at the same buildings, same roads, same everything every day.

By taking a trip closer to home, you might just find your new favorite destination to relax. The best thing about it is you can visit this place just about any day!

Go check out the following post for inspiration to (re)discover your surroundings during your little micro tourism trip.

Read more: 13 Creative & Budget-friendly Ways To Be A Tourist In Your Own City 

Micro tourism & the environment

Less distance traveled, less emission

Transportation is one of the biggest polluters when it comes to traveling. By reducing the distance you quite obviously reduce emissions as well. Not only your wallet is going to be happy with this.

Micro tourism doesn’t typically involve flying a plane, which is the number one polluter when it comes to transportation, followed by cars. The more people travel with the same car, the better it is for the environment, or maybe better said, less bad. You can read more about the different modes of transportation and their emissions here.

So this brings me to my next point.

Public transportation

Because the distance you would travel when on a micro trip isn’t that far, it’s much easier to take public transportation to your destination. Trains and busses are one of the most eco-friendly modes of transportation.

One of it’s other benefits is you don’t have to be concentrating on the road, so once you’ve boarded your train, you can just sit back and relax. Bring your favorite (audio)book and let your vacation begin!

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Overall this micro tourism trend is not just a covid trend. It’s an amazing way to get out of your daily routine for a few days without needing to break the bank or invest much time into.

I’ll keep saying it: vacations shouldn’t be limited to a few weeks a year!

Will you give this travel style a go?

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