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Think Before You Travel: Small Choices That Make a Big Difference
- ascsmalta
- 2 days ago
- 3 min read
Summer has a way of turning into one long countdown to the next flight. Exams wrap up, savings from part-time jobs finally get spent, and half of campus seems to disappear somewhere between an airport lounge and a beach. Travel at this time of year is about experiencing new cultures and food while enjoying a well-earned break after a semester of deadlines. In May 2026 alone, Malta welcomed 457,636 tourists, a 22.3% increase compared with May 2025, with tourists spending almost €420 million in that single month.
Sustainable tourism is not only about carbon footprints but also about protecting a place's cultural and natural heritage and ensuring local communities benefit from tourism. None of this is an argument against travelling, but an argument for travelling a bit more consciously, especially given the impact our everyday choices can have.
Travelling Sustainably
Transport is the biggest factor in a holiday’s environmental footprint, often responsible for at least 70% of the carbon emissions of an entire trip. For a Maltese student, however, “take the train instead of flying” is not particularly useful advice. Leaving the island means a flight or a ferry; therefore, the more honest question is what you do when you have landed somewhere, and that is where your choices start to matter. Once you are on the mainland, walking, cycling, or using public transport instead of taxis can make a real difference. In parts of Europe where trains run on electricity, rail can produce as much as ten times less carbon than flying the same route. Where flying is unavoidable, some routes and airlines still produce lower emissions than others, so it is worth making a quick comparison rather than booking the very first option.
Where Your Money Goes Matters
Since you are going to spend money on your holiday regardless, thinking about where it goes is in itself a travel choice. National Geographic gives an interesting example from Cancún, where some souvenir shops sell “traditional” Mexican sombreros that are mass manufactured in China and imported to sell cheaply to tourists. At the same time, local artisans who make the same hats by hand end up charging more and getting undercut in their own market.
That same logic applies to a lot of what you purchase during a trip. Tours run by local guides are one way of directing more of the benefits of tourism to the community. Choosing local food over the nearest familiar chain can also direct more of your spending towards local businesses and producers. None of this requires extensive research or extra effort, just a small pause before defaulting to whatever is closest or most heavily advertised.
Respect Goes Both Ways
This is an issue that is becoming increasingly difficult to ignore across Europe. Cheap flights and social media have concentrated tourists in the same popular cities and islands, with destinations such as Barcelona and Venice experiencing growing pressure on housing and local resources. Tourism itself is not the issue here, it brings significant economic activity, including to Malta. Problems arise when tourism is not managed well and visitors do not stop to think about the fact that they are visiting someone’s home, not a backdrop for their holiday.
As Maltese students, we are well placed to understand this issue from both perspectives. We already know what it is like to be on the receiving end of a packed summer with crowded streets, litter left behind, and late night noise. It is easy to understand why residents in heavily visited destinations can become frustrated by it. The uncomfortable part is that the moment we leave Malta, we become exactly that visitor somewhere else. Whatever behaviour would annoy you as a resident is exactly the behaviour to avoid as a guest.
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