The popularity of Blue Planet II will lead to a rise in eco-holidays, according to the Association of British Travel Agents (ABTA) who has predicted that the BCC marine wildlife series will encourage more tourists to visit new destinations as they become aware of the negative impact of overcrowding.
One in four holidaymakers are planning to visit a country they have not been to before in 2018 (27 percent) and almost a third (32 percent) expect to go to a new resort or city due to the increasing awareness of the impact that large numbers of visitors can have on some of the world’s most popular destinations. The BBC programme dedicated the last episode of its most recent series to documenting the impact of humans on the oceans, in particular, the effect of large amounts of discarded plastic.
Responsible tourism will also be a key trend next year, with more initiatives such as carbon-neutral group tours and the banning of plastics from beaches. The welfare of animals has also become a mainstream issue for travel companies including British global travel company, Thomas Cook which has taken the initial step of dropping some of their swimming with dolphins activities from their programme, but they have yet to clarify whether they intend to make this company policy across the board or only selected attractions.
