Tourism can be extractive—there’s no denying that. Puerto Rico’s booming tourism industry is bringing in billions, but as this article by USA Today highlights, it’s also raising concerns about environmental degradation, cultural erosion, and local affordability.
At TripOutside, we recognize these challenges and are working to make tourism less extractive. We focus exclusively on human-powered adventures—kayaking, biking, paddleboarding, hiking—that allow travelers to experience the beauty of Puerto Rico without leaving a heavy footprint. We partner directly with local expert outfitters, keeping tourism dollars within the community, and we wholeheartedly embrace and educate on Leave No Trace to ensure these incredible landscapes stay protected for future generations.
But there’s always more work to be done. What do you think? How else can we shift tourism away from extraction and toward regeneration? Would love to hear your thoughts!
Ideas for Making Your Trip to Puerto Rico More Sustainable
Puerto Rico, with its lush rainforests, pristine beaches, and vibrant culture, is a paradise for adventurers. But as we chase epic waves or explore hidden trails, it’s essential to ensure our journeys don’t harm the very landscapes we cherish. This guide provides insights on how to minimize your environmental footprint while maximizing the joy of exploring Puerto Rico responsibly.
We covered similar issues in this article about visiting Silverton. Many of these issues apply to any destination that brings in tourists and we’d like to expand on them here for Puerto Rico, a growing tourist destination with unique outdoor adventures and also unique challenges in tourism.
Solutions:
Travelers can help by visiting during off-peak seasons, exploring lesser-known locales, and supporting policies that manage tourist numbers. Other ways to help:
Reducing Waste While Exploring the Island
- Smart Packing: Bring reusable items—such as water bottles with built-in filters, cloth shopping bags, and travel utensils—to minimize single-use plastics.
- Mindful Consumption: Choose products with minimal packaging and support businesses that prioritize sustainability.
- Water Purification: In areas where tap water may be questionable, invest in a high quality water filter bottle or purification tablets to ensure safe hydration without relying on bottled water. An insulated water bottle can be great to use as it can be used in dual purpose situations when you want to grab a coffee or a tea and want to keep it warm while reducing single use trash.
– Sawyer Water Filters is an incredible company and a Leave No Trace supporter. I highly recommend their filters, they can attach to plastic water bottles turning a single use product to a multi-purpose long lasting product.
– Hydrapack is another great product, I love their water bottles because they are collapsible and I travel with them all the time as it can fit in my pocket when I go out to bars/restaurants.
– We love the camelbak water bottle and mug combo (on my shopping list)
Choose Sustainable Adventures in Puerto Rico
- Support Local and Eco-Friendly Businesses: Seek out tours and accommodations that are locally owned and have green certifications, ensuring your spending benefits the community and the environment.travelandtourworld.com
- Human-Powered Adventures / Silent Sports: Engage in non-motorized activities like kayaking, hiking, or cycling, which offer incredible experiences with minimal environmental impact.
- Leave No Trace: Adhere to the Leave No Trace principles to preserve natural habitats and ensure pristine trails for future explorers.
Embrace Regenerative Tourism
- Beyond Sustainability: Regenerative tourism aims not just to sustain but to improve and rejuvenate destinations, ensuring that tourism leaves a positive legacy.
- Community Involvement: Participate in initiatives that restore natural habitats, support local cultures, and invest in community projects.
- Understanding Voluntourism: Combining volunteering with tourism can be rewarding but requires careful consideration to ensure genuine benefits to host communities.
- Making a Positive Impact: Choose reputable programs that address community needs, ensure skills match the tasks, and prioritize long-term sustainability over short-term fixes.
Practical Tips for Eco-Conscious Travelers
- Transportation Choices: Opt for trains, buses, or carpooling over flights when possible to reduce your carbon footprint.
- Accommodation Selection: Stay in eco-certified lodgings that implement energy-efficient practices, waste reduction, and support local conservation efforts.
- Cultural Respect: Learn about and honor local customs, traditions, and regulations to foster goodwill and mutual respect.
Conclusion
Every journey offers a chance to experience the world’s wonders and a responsibility to protect them. By treading lightly and embracing responsible travel practices, we ensure that future generations can also revel in the planet’s epic landscapes and vibrant cultures.
Resources
- Leave No Trace Principles: Guidelines for minimizing impact during outdoor activities.
- EarthCheck Certification: Information on eco-certified accommodations and destinations.
- Responsible Travel: Platform offering eco-friendly travel options and tips.
Note: For more insights and updates on sustainable travel practices, check out recent articles from reputable sources.
We acknowledge that TripOutside is part of the tourism industry and our content and platform inspire travel and adventure in new destinations. We take our responsibility seriously when it comes to what experiences we promote. We’re constantly working toward a travel model that lets us visit the places we love without contributing to their decline. It’s a challenge in today’s world, but one we believe is worth tackling.
Here are a few ways we hope to reduce our company’s impact:
We feature Human-powered silent sports only. Although we have access to boating, ATVs, helicopter tours, boat rentals and more which are more expensive adventures and therefore making us more revenue, we choose only silent sports and human powered adventures.- Over 90% of our experiences are owned and operated by locals and we list locally owned businesses as a filter to help you find the local businesses.
- We’re not on social media.
We don’t push advertising on social media or media channels, telling you to go visit a place.
We do however, email our community about adventures in different destinations.
We include Leave No Trace principles as often as possible in our content, making the as relevant to the destination and activity as possible.- When selecting outfitters and adventure providers, we focus on providers and experiences that are 100% human powered FIRST. For example, if you can kayak out and snorkel or snorkel from shore, we add those providers and experiences before adding an experience that focuses on a boat trip to go snorkel.