The eco guide to booking a holiday | Lucy Siegle

Improvements in the travel industry are helping us all to be greener globetrotters

Camping aside, vacationing used to be viewed as eco hooliganism by the green movement. But as the standards of eco tourism grow and our own sustainable infrastructure stagnates, it will soon be easier to be green abroad than at home. A holiday could be a chance to claw back credit from Mother Earth. To paraphrase the International Union for Conservation of Nature, eco tourism promotes conservation, has a low visitor impact and benefits people in the host country.

Parts of the travel industry are improving. If the eco-friendly extent of a resort is just a "save water by not washing your towel" notice, you can do better. Bookdifferent.com gives you the carbon footprint for a night's stay. Also look out for an EarthCheck rating (formerly known as the Green Globe) which measures a hotel's greenhouse gas emissions, energy efficiency and eco-system conservation.