Note to consumers: if you're looking for the definitive book on "green" travel, you won't find it. Not only are the bookshelves filled with volumes that treat the topic in new and diverse ways; publishers are no longer promoting anything approximating "The Definitive Book on Green Travel." Instead, they've responded to consumer needs: releasing guidebook series that incorporate green- and eco-travel sections, creating resources around principles of sustainability and using production methods in keeping with those principles.
For example: in 1992, Wiley published Daniel and Sally Wiener Grotta's The Green Travel Sourcebook: A Guide for the Physically Active, the Intellectually Curious, or the Socially Aware. This year, Michael Spring, publisher of Wiley's Frommer's imprint, notes that this title would be out of date not just in details but in outlook: "People now tend to be all of the above—active, curious and aware," says Spring. "It's more about staying in touch with nature and with yourself together than about treating eco-travel as an oddity." Spring believes that Frommer's Guides have incorporated green travel into travel in general: "It's about sustainable travel and giving back to the environment. Soon all of our guidebooks will have a section on sustainable travel."
Other publishers agree that the time for this view has come. Tim Jarrell, publisher of Fodor's, says that sections on eco-travel and sustainable travel are being expanded in his books, too. "We have chapters devoted, as appropriate, to wildlife, outdoor activities and eco-tours, among other things. For example, our 2007 New Zealand guide has a section on bicycle tours." Jarrell sees two strong trends emerging in green travel: sustainability (meaning to minimize the impact of tourism on natural places as well as to reduce the amount of resources used by the travel industry overall) and out-of-the-ordinary experiences.
"There's a small subset of travelers who think about being ecologically minded, and an even smaller subset of those who wonder about how their trip affects the rain forest or the local economy," says Jarrell. "But there's a much larger group that's trying to figure out how to have an experience—whether that means hard-core adventure travel or a family hiking vacation."
After all, eco-travel is "an amorphous concept," says Avalon Travel Group publisher Bill Newlin. "We needed to ask the consumer, 'What does eco-travel mean to you?' " Newlin, whose long-running imprints include the Rick Steves guidebooks and The People's Guide to Mexico (now in its 13th edition), believes that the latter's "extremely righteous feel" has evolved through consumer feedback into an awareness that travel can be an extension of lifestyle. "You can 'leave no trace' and still have a great travel experience—it's no longer about suffering," he says. "We're definitely trying to set the standard for this new generation of travel books that integrates sustainability, because the entire concept is in our corporate DNA."
"Leaving no trace" has another aspect for travel publishers, and that's about production. Some 80% of the books Avalon publishes ("five out of six," says Newlin), including the Moon Guides, are printed with soy ink on recycled paper. Frommer's is using soy inks for its books, while Fodor's faces greater challenges in this area due to the overall size of Random House as a corporation and its consolidation of printing.
However, another method of reducing a production footprint is to use publishing methods that don't require ink or paper. A good example of this for travel publishers is the growing popularity of podcasts. Three of four of the Top 10 podcasts on iTunes are from Rick Steves, whose brand of frugal, practical and local—culture—affirming travel tips has long been popular with earnest American tourists. (Rough Guides and Frommer's also have podcasts on their Web sites.)
Other publishers are taking collective steps toward strengthening sustainable travel. Rough Guides and Lonely Planet have teamed up to build a Web site, in partnership with Climate Care, dedicated to educating travelers about climate change (the Rough Guides site for this is www.roughguides.com/climatechange). Rough Guides publisher Mark Ellingham says this idea had its genesis in a dinner he had with Tony Wheeler, founder of Lonely Planet. "We wondered whether we could have any influence in making people more aware of the issue. We hit on the idea of a joint press campaign with a simple slogan— 'Fly Less, Stay Longer.' "
Ellingham followed up this campaign with The Rough Guide to Climate Change, which he's sent to all British MPs and is about to send to all U.S. senators and MPs in Australia, New Zealand and India. Coming in May from Lonely Planet is Code Green: Experiences of a Lifetime, a travel book that combines sustainable travel with inspirational ideas about authentic travel.
National Geographic Books works with the National Geographic Society's Center for Sustainable Destinations (http://www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/sustainable/). Elizabeth Newhouse, editorial director for travel books at National Geographic, says, "By working with the [center], we want to be sure that all of our products are very much aligned with the green ethic." An April title following that ethic is True Green: 100 Everyday Ways You Can Contribute to a Healthier Planet by Kim McKay and Jenny Bonnin.
Newhouse points to this spring's Jewish Heritage Travel: A Guide to Eastern Europe and The 100 Best Vacations to Enrich Your Life by Pam Grout as the second part of the sustainability puzzle for National Geographic: "We also believe that experiential travel is important, because the closer people feel to the places they visit, the more careful they will be in preserving them. Having an authentic experience that includes cultural and natural elements has always been at the forefront of the society's travel ideals." One last note: the search for authenticity sometimes leads to immigration: Moon Guides' Living Abroad series now includes just two titles—China and Nicaragua—but Newlin says plans for several more are underway.
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