Juliet Kinsman on what sustainable travel really means

Juliet Kinsman is the owner of ‘Bouteco’, a purpose-led
non-profit communications consultancy for trusted sustainable
luxury travel content and storytelling free of greenwash. Juliet
is also a journalist, author, sustainability editor as well as
being a Mum. Her solid ethics and life experience oozes through
this podcast and we can honestly say we didn’t want this
conversation to end. Juliet Kinsman is an inspiring passionate
person who explains to us what it really means to be a
sustainable traveller. Whether you are a luxury traveller or
someone who loves to travel on a budget, this episode will
completely open your eyes as to how you can bring a positive
impact to local communities. Juliets career shifted focus when
she learned about Fogo Island Inn, set off the rugged coastline
of Newfoundland. This is one of the most remote locations in
Canada, historically having high levels of emigration. Fogo
Island Inn was created by Canadian business women Zeta Cobb and
is not only an example sustainable building but an example of
investing in the local community. This is when Juliet really
started to focus on the positive socio-economic aspect of travel
and why it is so important to keep people where they want to be.
Juliet talks a lot about regenerative travel - and she says
that’s how travel should be. Any hotel that is inter connected
with its community and the local environment - then ‘that’s
helpful’. If a business is investing in local people then that is
one of the greatest things that you can do for a community in
terms of uplift. The importance of the authenticity of your visit
will keep local culture alive and andleave money in the local
economy. She emphasises how important it is to support people and
cultures to exist in a natural state, living in harmony with the
environment and their natural environments. She describes so
eloquently how we need to take a holistic approach to the
socio-economic impacts of our travel decisions and why we must
absolutely think about more than ‘carbon footprint’. Juliet goes
on to share her genuine sense of need to help and to support
women and children who are and will suffer the most as a
consequence of a changing climate. Supporting female owned
businesses is really important. Any way to empower women in
vulnerable destinations makes a big difference.She discusses her
thoughts on how people go on holiday but don’t take their values
with them, whether using more plastic, water or knowingly staying
somewhere that workers are not being looked after. She talks
about how hotels can easily ‘greenwash’ - overstating the good
they do and as a traveller we have a responsibility to ask more
questions. If a hotel says it is offsetting its carbon footprint,
ask ‘how is this hotel measuring carbon footprint?’Juliets sums
the podcast up by telling us we only need to ask ourselves one
question when travelling; is this helpful?’. She says we should
approach all travel this way and encourages everyone to always
ask questions. If you get an answer you don’t like or you don’t
get an answer then your decision is simple - don’t stay there.If
you would like to know more about Julie you can find her across
all platforms on @julietkinsman. You can find her consultancy
firm at Bouteco.co. Juliet also runs a podcast called ‘Funny Old
World’, a podcast about all things eco. If you would like to
follow our podcast on Twitter we are @4loveofweather or Instagram
@Fortheloveofweather.Thanks so much for listening and supporting
the podcast and we hope you leave this episode loving the weather
that little bit more.