You're ready to book your next holiday, and you're aware of the importance of minimising your travel footprint. But where do you begin?

If you're stumped, you're not alone. A new Booking.com report found sustainability is important to 84% of global travellers. But while the desire to travel greener is strong, the path to eco-tourism is unclear for many. A Trip.com study found that nearly half of travellers are confused about what sustainable travel actually means, while a 2025 World Travel & Tourism Council report revealed that cost is a major barrier.

With global tourism bouncing back and environmental pressures intensifying, 2025 is a crucial year to rethink how we travel. Here are some simple, practical ways to make more impactful travel choices this year – without sacrificing joy or comfort on the road.

As you plan your holidays for 2025 and beyond, experts recommend asking yourself whether you want to be a passive tourist or a visitor who makes a positive impact on the destination. A regenerative-focused trip could involve hands-on conservation at an Ecuadorian ecolodge or choosing an Australian hiking experience helping to revive Aboriginal culture. Fiji's new Loloma Hour encourages travellers to dedicate at least one hour of their stay to a positive environmental, cultural or social impact activity, while Hawaii's Mālama experiences encourage visitors to give back to the environment and local communities through habitat restoration, beach cleanups and more.

"We must do better than just sustain travel," said David Leventhal, eco-hotel owner and co-founder of Regenerative Travel, a leading provider of educational courses aimed at transforming the travel industry into a force for positive change. "We must reverse damage, and regenerate working at a whole systems level to integrate people and planet better."

In 2025, travellers are increasingly aware of the social and cultural impacts of tourism, with Booking.com's 2025 Travel & Sustainability Report showing for the first time that more than half of global travellers are aware of tourism's impact on local communities as well as the environment. With overtourism protests – which are already ramping up in 2025 – and unaffordable housing in popular destinations, there's a growing call to be more mindful about how, when and where we travel.

Thoughtful Travel

Want to travel better? Thoughtful Travel is a series on the ways people behave while away, from ethics to etiquette and more.

"That's not to say that the environmental elements of sustainable travel are less important – reducing carbon emissions and plastic are as important as ever," says Dr Susanne Becken, professor of sustainable tourism at Australia's Griffith University, "but the growth of tourism is putting more and more pressure on communities to a point where some tourism hotspots don't want to engage with it anymore."

Steering clear of popular destinations at peak times, being more respectful of local cultures and people, hiring local and Indigenous guides and purchasing more mindfully – from accommodation to souvenirs – can all help to reduce pressure on communities. "Remember that the destination you are visiting is someone's home," says Becken.

Looking for immersive, community-based travel? Nepal's Community Homestay Network has launched three new "community circuits" for 2025, including an itinerary traversing little-visited eastern Nepal; while a new Intrepid Travel trip offers an opportunity to engage with Indigenous elders on a journey to Colombia's "Lost City". From visiting a Thai island that has taken sustainability into its own hands to experiencing life in a groundbreaking Swedish town, there are now countless opportunities to visit communities in responsible and regenerative ways.

Hotels and other holiday accommodations contribute a large proportion of the CO2 emitted by the tourism sector – but better options are emerging. The world's first carbon-positive hotel, Populus, opened in the US in 2024; and IHG........

© BBC