Eco-Friendly Travel: Tips for Sustainable Vacationing in the Maldives

The concept of sustainable tourism, or eco-friendly travel, isn’t a new one, but it is becoming an increasingly important practice in destinations that are particularly vulnerable to climate change, such as the Maldives.

The Maldives, a tropical travel destination located in the Indian Ocean, is already facing the impacts of climate change at an alarmingly fast rate compared to other areas of the world. Because of this, it’s essential for travellers to have an eco-conscious mindset when visiting the islands to help reduce their environmental impacts. 

What exactly is sustainable tourism, though? And how can you go green while on holiday? In our guide, we’ll unpack sustainable tourism and offer ways you can plan your own sustainable getaway to the Maldives.

What Is Sustainable Tourism

What is sustainable tourism? Sustainable tourism is a practice that aims to minimise the social, economic and environmental impacts of travel and tourism on a community. It focuses on eco-friendly and ethical actions that don’t exploit locals, their culture or their resources. 

To help promote sustainable tourism, many travel destinations like the Maldives ask visitors to plan sustainable getaways centred around an eco-conscious mindset. 

When planning these holidays, travellers are encouraged to make green decisions, such as staying at an environmentally friendly resort, buying local, engaging in green activities and respecting the surrounding nature and wildlife. It also involves being mindful of electricity use, conserving water and properly disposing of waste. 

These sustainable getaways help allow travellers to explore different communities without negatively impacting them so that visitors and locals alike can continue to enjoy these areas for years to come. 

Why the Maldives Needs Sustainable Tourism

With a better understanding of sustainable getaways, let’s discuss why these practices are so important in travel destinations like the Maldives. 

While climate change is a global issue, it poses a major threat to the Maldives since it is the lowest country in the world, making it especially vulnerable to sea level rise. Because of these concerns over the rise of sea levels, the Maldives has adopted the National Adaptation Programme of Action with measures geared toward mitigating environmental threats, such as making the island nation a low-carbon country. Other key environmental concerns include climate change-induced water shortages due to low rainfall. In response, the Maldivian Ministry of Environment and Energy, backed by the United Nations Development Programme and Green Climate Fund, has introduced a project targeted at providing safe and reliable drinking water to the local communities. 

The Maldives hopes green initiatives like these, paired with sustainable tourism practices, will help slow down the negative impacts of climate change on the region.

Planning Your Trip: Sustainable Practices

The good news is that because sustainability is such an important topic in the Maldives, it’s actually fairly easy to plan sustainable getaways here. Between staying at an eco-friendly accommodation and choosing green activities, the following are just a few ways you can practise sustainable tourism in the Maldives. 

Choosing Eco-Friendly Accommodations

When planning your holiday to the Maldives, you’ll want to stay at an eco-friendly accommodation that supports green initiatives and helps reduce environmental impacts. To narrow down your search, look for eco-resorts and hotels that promote sustainability programs and have earned green certificates and recognition. 

For instance, the Sun Siyam Resorts have a Sun Siyam Care program that focuses on several areas, including sustainability, carbon footprint reduction, water management, waste management and recycling and biodiversity protection. This program also features initiatives geared toward empowering and engaging the community and educating and encouraging guests to partake in eco-friendly practices during their stay. 

Furthermore, all five Sun Siyam Resorts have achieved the Travelife Gold Certification. This prestigious certification verifies that the resorts are compliant with all 163 sustainability criteria that focus on the environment, people and communities. Sun Siyam Iru Fushi also recently received the International Sustainable Award by Luxury Lifestyle Awards, further showcasing the resort's commitment to the environment. 

Travel Light and Green

Next, take a green approach to the way you pack for your trip. Begin by bringing only what you need—packing light is one way to conserve energy. The less you pack, the less energy is needed to transport your luggage to and from your destination. Therefore, only bring the essentials and look for versatile clothing you can layer or wear multiple times between washes. 

Also, consider reusable options and avoid single-use products. For example, purchase a BPA-free reusable water bottle and coffee mug you can travel with, so you won’t have to purchase plastic containers that take thousands of years to decompose in landfills. 

Eco-Conscious Activities in the Maldives

The beauty of travelling to the Maldives is that there are so many opportunities for you to enjoy ecotourism that promote conservation right at your resorts. These activities and excursions invite you to experience the islands both above and below the water’s surface, without causing any harm. 

When you stay at one of the Sun Siyam Resorts, you’ll find all kinds of eco-friendly activities and experiences that support and protect the local community and environment, from reef-safe snorkelling to coral and tree planting. 

For example, at Sun Siyam Iru Veli, you can take a tour of one of the fishing villages to learn about the culture and support local businesses. While at Siyam World, you can cruise around the resort in a carbon-free, green-friendly moke or ride the waves in the world’s first hydrofoil e-bike. Between purchasing coconuts from one of the Gaadiya (food trucks), creating crafts from shells and palm leaves and venturing out on the walking trails to admire the flora and fauna, you’ll come across so many ways to embrace sustainable tourism in the Maldives at the Sun Siyam Resorts. 

Dining Sustainably in the Maldives

What is sustainable tourism in regard to dining? Dining sustainably means being conscious of the kinds of food you’re consuming during your travels. For instance, was the food ethically sourced? And what was its carbon footprint? 

Sun Siyam Resorts take great care when sourcing food for guests. In fact, the resorts have three local bio-farms that supply them with more than 38 varieties of fruits and vegetables while using organic practices, reducing their carbon footprint and providing income for the local communities. These bio-farms also hope to introduce renewable energy and composting machines in the near future to further enhance their sustainability. During your stay at the resorts, you can visit the farms to learn more about their eco-friendly initiatives. 

What’s more, the Maldives is committed to sustainable fishing to protect marine diversity and support the livelihood of locals. The country has banned harmful fishing methods such as trawl nets, and local fishermen use pole and line and hand-line fishing techniques to help reduce bycatch. Therefore, when dining at the Sun Siyam Resorts, you can rest assured the seafood you’re eating was ethically and responsibly sourced. 

Supporting Local and Sustainable Businesses

Supporting local and ethical businesses is another important aspect of sustainable tourism in the Maldives. This involves shopping and making purchases at businesses that don’t exploit local resources or labourers.

At resorts, such as Sun Siyam Vilu Reef and Sun Siyam Olhuveli, the Sun Siyam Care programme aims to reduce poverty in the surrounding communities and provide job opportunities for locals. They also have development and training initiatives to help staff further their careers and increase their income while offering jobs to women’s development committees in the area, too.

In addition to staying at a resort that focuses on supporting the local community, you can parktake in other sustainable practices, such as buying souvenirs at the locally-run gift shops and purchasing food and beverages from a Gaadiya. Also, don’t buy any coral or turtle shells, as this not only harms marine life but is also illegal. In fact, you could face fines for trying to export these banned items from the Maldives. 

Leave No Trace - Best Practices in the Maldives
Finally, it’s crucial to practise the “Leave No Trace” principles while visiting the Maldives to protect the local environment. This includes properly disposing of waste, leaving nature just as you found it and respecting the wildlife. 

For example, if you’re enjoying one of the resort excursions that takes you to a deserted island for the day, don’t leave behind any trash, take any shells or coral with you or bother the sea life. This helps preserve the uninhabited island, so other travellers like you have the opportunity to experience the many wonders of the region. 

Plan Your Green Holiday at Sun Siyam Resorts Today

If you’ve always dreamed of experiencing the crystal clear waters and sandy beaches of the Maldives for yourself, then it’s time to start planning your sustainable getaways to this majestic destination. Fortunately, adopting green practices is actually quite easy when travelling here, especially when you stay at an environmentally-friendly resort like a Sun Siyam Resort. 

Begin booking one of the many amazing Sun Siyam Resort offers, and then start exploring all the eco-friendly opportunities you can enjoy during your stay, from dining on sustainably-caught seafood to snorkelling around the colourful reefs. Your green getaway in the Maldives awaits, so book today!