If you are a parent, a teacher, or anyone who has the care of young minds, then you will constantly be looking for ways to inspire them and teach them to be the best versions of themselves that they can be.

Teaching young people or students the value of sustainability, including sustainability at home and sustainable travel, should be a key priority. But how exactly can we teach students the value of sustainable travel, the benefits and the joy that it can bring?

Lead By Example – Make Sustainable Travel Choices Yourself

Whether or not they always show it, younger people will often take their cues from you when it comes to the best ways to be and things to do. So the very best thing that we can all do to teach students the value of sustainable travel is to travel sustainably ourselves.

We can lead by example and show how we can make more ethical and sustainable choices and still have an absolutely amazing time. So as a teacher or role-model of any kind, we should always try to ensure that our own holiday choices are beyond reproach, and think very carefully about every choice that we make.

Share Inspiring Examples of Sustainable Travel Options

We can inspire young people or students not only by sharing our own sustainable travel experiences, but also by sharing other examples of sustainable travel options around the world.

By sharing a wide range of examples your students will understand that sustainable travel is not about making compromises we don’t want to make. It is simply about finding the best possible option for our own wishes, without causing harm to people, wildlife or the world around us.

Whether they love to mooch around a big city, hike for miles, or simply chill out on a beautiful beach, there are different types of sustainable holiday and there is something for anyone, no matter which type of holiday they prefer.

Show, Don’t Tell

As well as showing young people how wonderful sustainable travel can be, it can also be helpful to show why we should choose sustainable travel in the first place. This can sometimes involve making sure they understand the damage that mass tourism and non-sustainable travel can do.

But just telling people about the potential negative consequences of their actions does not always bring about the desired behavioural change.

Showing (either in person or via videos) the impacts of humanity on holiday rather than simply sharing key facts can help that information really land, and make it more likely that students will avoid non-sustainable travel themselves in the future.

There are, of course, many more ways to make sure that we raise or teach the sustainable citizens of the future. But leading by example, sharing wonderful examples of sustainable travel, and showing the harm of non-sustainable travel and mass tourism rather than simply spouting facts, are the foundation for teaching students or young people the value of sustainable travel.