Introduction
Travelling opens doors to new landscapes, cultures, and experiences, but it also leaves a carbon footprint. At intoAsturias, we believe exploring Northern Spain shouldn’t come at the expense of the planet we love. That’s why we’re committed to sustainability, and take a transparent approach to measuring, reducing, and offsetting the environmental impact of our trips. We strive to ensure that the negative impact on the climate is minimized while maximizing the positive impact on people, nature, and animals.
Planning Sustainable Trips
We take different actions to ensure that our trips have the greatest possible positive impact on local residents and the destination, and a minimal impact on the climate. To determine this, we measure the positive and negative effects of our clients’ travels.
When designing your itinerary, the positive choices we make include selecting sustainable accommodation, working with local guides, and visiting natural areas. At the same time, we measure CO₂ emissions and support initiatives in Northern Spain to offset this impact.
Making Positive Choices
- Choosing Eco-friendly Accommodations
- We choose the accommodation for your trip considering their sustainability certifications and scale of operations.
- We select hotels, rural guesthouses (“casas rurales”), and ecolodges with Biosphere Certified labels, EU Ecolabels, B-Corp certifications, or other sustainability certifications, or those belonging to regional (Nekatur, Cluster Asturas) and national (Soy Ecoturista) responsible tourism networks.
- We also work as much as possible with small-scale accommodations, with a maximum of 16 rooms. They help the local economy and often preserve a more cultural and authentic experience.
2. Working with Local Guides
Many of the trips that we offer include at least one experience with a local, officially certified guide. They’re knowledgeable about the surroundings and highlight the importance of conserving the culture and nature of the destination you’re visiting, making sure your tour gives back to the local community.
3. Visiting Natural and/or National Parks
We encourage travelers to visit Northern Spain´s Natural and/or National Parks, such as the Picos de Europa, Ponga, Redes, Urdaibai, or Oyambre. By being accommodated in the parks, eating out, and participating in excursions, you contribute to the livelihoods of people in the park and help preserve its natural and cultural heritage. For example, in our Wolves, Wildcats and Wildlife vacation package, you visit 8 Natural and/or National Parks in just 11 days.
Reducing Negative Impacts
- Calculating the greenhouse gas (GHG) CO₂ emissions of the trip.
- To do this, we use the Carmacal tool, allowing us to calculate the carbon footprint of your vacation package (including accommodation, meals, activities, and in some cases, transport).
- Once we finish calculating, we generate a report so we can visually see which categories have the biggest effects.
- This gives us a specific goal to work towards.
- Support CO₂ offset projects.
- We aim to offset our trips’ emissions from 2025 onwards by supporting projects in the Reserva de Biosfera Mariñas Coruñesas e Terras do Mandeo (the first certified ecotourism destination in Galicia). The initiatives focus on:
- Landscape restoration: tree planting and ecological recovery to capture CO₂.
- Biodiversity conservation: preserving native habitats and improving natural ecosystems.
- Local tradition preservation: focusing on the agriculture, gastronomy, and job opportunities in the area.
- Public use & awareness: creating trails and spaces that connect people with nature while ensuring sustainable access.
- Each project is mapped and tracked transparently, which you can view here.
- We aim to offset our trips’ emissions from 2025 onwards by supporting projects in the Reserva de Biosfera Mariñas Coruñesas e Terras do Mandeo (the first certified ecotourism destination in Galicia). The initiatives focus on:
- Assigning a percentage of each trip to a sustainable cause.
- If you book directly through our website, we direct a specific amount of the tour or trip costs to supporting local eco-friendly initiatives. These include:
- An annual environmental education activity around the office of intoAsturias in Soto de Llanera, Asturias
- Supporting the NGO ´Fundacion para la Conservacion del Quebrantahuesos´, located in the Picos de Europa National Park in Asturias
- Supporting a local rewilding project in Arriondas, Asturias.
- If you book directly through our website, we direct a specific amount of the tour or trip costs to supporting local eco-friendly initiatives. These include:
Conclusion
By choosing eco-friendly places to stay, supporting local conservation, and funding projects that restore nature, we work towards more sustainable trips, ensuring your travel gives back more than it takes. This way, you can enjoy the beauty of Northern Spain while knowing your visit also helps protect it for the future!