During the coronavirus lockdown, many people have seen a notable positive impact on their local environment, from clean water to clear skies. And, with many people now having tasted the sweet palate of unpolluted air, they’re unwilling to go back to the way things were – could this new desire for more eco-centric lives fuel a shift towards more eco-centric resorts?
While some of the more impressive stories about cities falling back to nature sit firmly in the realm of fiction (sorry, there weren’t any dolphins in Venice), it is true that emissions around the globe have dropped. This has meant clean skies in some of the worlds most polluted cities – notably seen in Delhi where before-and-after photos show the startling difference in visible pollution. In other countries, this has resulted in waterways that are cleaner than they have been in generations or simply more breathable air when out for a walk.
More importantly, many people want to see it stay this way. In fact, according to the BBC, “Four in five [drivers polled for the AA] would take some action to reduce their impact on air quality” after experiencing the cleaner air of lockdown. This is no surprise, because in addition to the very visible improvements, the drop in pollution during lockdown has had some pretty major impacts on health, with one study finding that the cleaner air has led to “11,000 fewer deaths from pollution in the UK and elsewhere in Europe”, according to the Guardian.
It’s not really a surprise that people like to breath clean air, it’s just that for many people, it’s taken seeing clean air to really appreciate it since it is outside of our normal experience. Speaking to the National Geographic, Simon Birkett, founder and director of Clean Air in London, argued that there is now a chance to get people to reflect on this period and how it has affected them, to turn this moment into ‘a catalyst, or a tipping point, which could get us to say “Clean air—there’s something special about it.”’
However, the shift in attitude that we have seen so far is one of personal belief as opposed to actual policy change, with many experts predicting that the pollution pendulum will swing the other direction post-COVID as countries scramble to get out from under an economic crisis at any cost – including a severe environmental one. China, for example, has already returned to pre-COVID pollution levels at a time when much of the world is still in lockdown.
Despite this, the fact that a reduced-pollution lockdown could spur people on a personal journey to a greener future is something that should be embraced. It is, of course, part of a wider trend that we have seen in recent years that has permeated every sector, including travel. Eco-resorts were gaining traction before the world went into lockdown, but now that people are looking for ways to keep breathing clean air and reducing emissions, they could be looking at even more popularity.
Of course, eco-resorts are facing many of the same problems as more traditional travel destinations, such as a drop in international tourism, travel restrictions, and less disposable income thanks to massive job losses across the globe. However, unlike traditional resorts, they offer exactly what people have come to want during lockdown – a clean, green place to escape. The idea of a ‘clean’ eco-resort now takes on many meanings, but even beyond the idea that they are environmentally cleaner, many eco-resorts and their rural placements reflect other post-COVID travel trends such as getting into the great outdoors rather than in higher risk cities.
There is no doubt that eco-resorts, like all other tourism-related businesses, are facing unknown times ahead and almost certainly some trouble as travel falls. However, they are also in a unique position to provide people with the green alternative that they are looking for, hopefully pulling tourism as a whole into a more environmentally sustainable future as they go.
