To celebrate Earth Day on 22 April, Booking.com has released the findings from its most recent global Sustainable Travel Report.

The report indicates that the green travel trend continues to gain momentum with a large majority of global travelers (87%) stating that they want to travel sustainably, and nearly four in 10 (39%) confirming that they often or always manage to do so.

However, 48% indicate they never, rarely or only sometimes manage to travel sustainably, suggesting that while promising strides are being made for a greener future, there is still plenty of room to turn intentions into action.

Sustainability starts where you stay as for almost half of travelers (46%), 'sustainable travel' means staying in eco-friendly or green accommodations, topping the list of what people think of when hearing the term.

Looking ahead, more than two-thirds (68%) of travelers intend to stay in an eco-accommodation in 2018, reassuringly up from 65% in 2017 and 62% in 2016.

Additionally, the percentage of travelers who have not considered eco-friendly stays because they were unaware of their existence continues to decline, resting at 31% this year, compared to 39% and 38% in 2017 and 2016 respectively.

Eco-inspiration

When it comes to what inspires people to travel more sustainably, it seems that travel itself is the biggest motivator.

Six in ten (60%) travelers indicated that they found the impressive natural sights visited on past travels as their inspiration to travel more sustainably, while more than half (54%) said seeing the visible impact that tourism can have on destinations serves as their inspiration.

Read the full release here: www.booking.com/where-sustainable-travel-is-headed-in-2018