Responsible tourism

What is responsible tourism?
Tourism can offer many opportunities for social and economic growth of communities living in a popular tourist destination. However, there are more concerns about the potential and actual negative impact on local people and environment from tourism. Responsible tourism is about tourists making environmentally friendly, sustainable, ethical and respectful choices when travelling in order to minimize the negative impacts of tourism.

What tourists can do to help with developing responsible tourism in Shaoxing?
Tourists can make a big difference by only supporting the types of tourism that are not harmful to the environment and are supportive of local communities working to gain or maintain sustainable livelihoods. Pollution is becoming a major problem in China (including Shaoxing) and tourists have contributed partly to this. As a traveler in Shaoxing, there are many things that you can do to contribute to responsible tourism in Shaoxing, for example, you can help by reusing your water bottle and using filtered water if you're concerned about the cleanliness of local supply. You can refuse to take plastic bags at supermarkets or shops when you’re shopping. You can minimize water and energy use when you travel in Shaoxing. You can dispose of garbage carefully, and recycle where possible and reuse your shopping bags. You can choose environmentally-responsible tour operators.