Can travel apps make travel more sustainable?

Catherine Mack | August 3, 2021

Tech is transforming tourism and, if you are truly committed to sustainability, you need to start getting smart about it. There is an app for everything these days, but the truly happening apps for us are ones that make a difference to travelers’ impacts. Or apps that make sustainable travel easy for travelers. Here are some of our favourite apps that you can download for your travels, but also ones that should be featured in travel content. Create a short film, for example, of people using the app and connecting with your destination by using it. In the meantime, do share any other favorite apps with us on Twitter or LinkedIN. 

“COVID-19 is proving to be an unexpected catalyst in the Travel & Tourism sector’s quest for innovation and the integration of new technologies. Amid stay-at-home orders, digital adoption and consumption are on the rise, with consumers now expecting contactless technologies, including biometrics among others, as a basic prerequisite for a safe and seamless travel experience.” - To recovery and beyond: The future of travel & tourism in the wake of COVID-19, World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC), September 2020.

Best apps for sustainable tourism

National park service app

This must be one of the most content-rich apps out there, with details on the USA’s National Parks, National Recreation Areas, Historic Trails, National Monuments and more. There is also information on how to get there, downloadable maps, daily events, trails and ranger tips, as well as daily news updates. There is even a webcam on there, so you can check out sunrise over the Grand Canyon or dusk in Denali. As well as all the usual trails information, two of the app’s other impressive features are details on freshwater swimming spots and also accessible tourism information. For example, in Colorado’s Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve, you can swim at Medano Creek, and there are sand wheelchairs available for free loan at the information center. 

For more information,visit the National Park Service app.

hearhere

This app, co-founded by Kevin Costner, is storytelling central, which we are a big fan of in all our content at GLP. Storytelling and sustainability are perfect partners, because when you hear the stories of real people who live in the places you want to travel to, it all feels wonderfully real. You start to see a place through their eyes or, in the case of HearHere, hear it through their words. It isn’t free (except a sample first five stories so you can try it out), but they do have a facility whereby you can buy it for someone as a gift. HearHere taps into the podcast zeitgeist, with professional readers doing audio recordings of stories that tie into the landscapes where you are traveling. The idea is that you take it on the road with you, and tune into the storytellers en route, who fill you in on local community and cultural highlights along the way. You can also download them for when you don’t have access to wifi or data. This is wonderfully innovative stuff. Note that at the moment the stories are for North America only, but they are bound to spread pretty soon. As we know, the love of stories knows no borders.

Learn more about the HearHere app.

Rail Europe - European train booking app

Book a European train journey in a few clicks, using this app that connects the otherwise over-complicated network of train operators on the continent. Travelers can set up alerts for cheap train tickets, get notifications about cheapest prices, pay in GBP, Euros, Canadian or US Dollars and keep up to date with the latest rail news with blogs and destination guides. It is the only app available where travelers can book trains to or from anywhere in the UK to the rest of Europe, and it gives detailed timetables and changes. On their website, not on the app at the moment, travelers can also see the C02 emissions they are saving by taking the train. For example, taking the train from London to Paris instead of flying cuts CO2 emissions by 90%.  This is a great app for destinations to leverage to help their visitors access rail transport.

See more details about the Rail Europe app.

Native land app

This is a crowdsourced, educational app that is quite basic in technology but packed with Indigenous, territorial information. The main feature is a global map which has tribal names sprinkled across it in all their territories. Click on one of those names, and it offers external links to Indigenous communities’ websites. This app opens up a whole new perspective on the world. It’s an important, inclusive introduction to Indigenous people, lands and stories, and one that should inform a lot of not only Indigenous tourism content but all content in these regions. 

Visit the Native Land app to learn more about Indigenous communities.

Access Now

This is a crowdsourced app, with information input from travelers in over thirty countries who highlight whether places of interest are accessible or not, to people with mobility, visual, auditory and cognitive needs. AccessNow is a superb tool, however we believe that detailed accessible tourism information should automatically be provided on all destination and tourism sites as part of a content marketing strategy. Read more in our article on accessible tourism in travel content. 

Learn more about the AccessNow app.

Too Good to Go App

This is the fastest-growing app to put a stop to food waste from restaurants, cafes, shops, hotels and more. Founded in Denmark in 2015, where it ‘saved its first meal’ in Copenhagen, it has now saved 29 million meals and avoided the equivalent of more than 72,000 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions. That is the same as saving carbon emissions from 15,000 vehicles driven for one year. At the last count, this clever and very cool app had 36.8 million users who downloaded the app to then connect with their nearby foodie spots, and order a discounted meal, all packaged in a Too Good To Go paper bag, saving meals that would otherwise go to waste, while you save money. Every destination management organization should feature this app if it applies to their region. But watch out, Too Good To Go will almost certainly go global. 

Click to learn more about the Too Good to Go app.

Hiiker (long-distance trails) app

Walk the talk and walk the tech. This is hiking heaven, with long-distance trails all mapped and wrapped beautifully in an app. It is still conquering the world, but there are a plethora of trails on there already, particularly the famous GR routes in Europe, from the Tour de Mont Blanc to the Wicklow Way, all categorized into easy, medium or difficult. There is also no shortage of trails in North America. The app shows you how to break walks up into segments, how to find accommodation along the way, from campsites to chateaus, and also has reviews and feedback on the trails from users. You can even download maps from it. This is definitely a must have app for your backpack. 

Learn more about the Hiiker app.

UNEP carbon calculator

On your travels, you can calculate and curb your carbon footprint by using this app, which the UN calls Carbon Donut. As well as monitoring your carbon, it is packed with interesting articles ranging from ethical banking to climate-smart delivery services. It’s a font of knowledge in fact and bursting with anti-carbon nuggets. At the moment, the technology used to calculate emissions is based on a Nordic lifestyle, so it might not be so relevant if you live in a desert environment, but they are going to expand geographically. In researching this article, it became obvious that many apps burst onto the scene for a year or two, and then disappear. We reckon this one’s a keeper. 

For more details, visit Carbon Donut: Act on Climate.

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