Plastic-Free Travel: The Top Priority for Today’s Conscious Vietnamese Traveler

As Plastic Free July kicks off, Booking.com is spotlighting a shift in travelers priorities: a growing focus on  waste-reducing travel habits, moving beyond just energy saving. Booking.com’s Travel and Sustainability Report 2025, reveals that 41% of Vietnamese travelers identified minimizing plastic waste as the #1 activity associated with sustainable travel.

Over 25,000 accommodations globally have their third-party sustainability certification information displayed on the Booking.com platform. Booking.com features 62 different certifications, highlighting the diverse efforts accommodations are making to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, conserve water, manage waste more efficiently, optimize energy use and actively support their local communities.

El Nido, Palawan, Philippines

Vietnamese Travelers' Sustainable Travel Preferences

In 2025, one of the top behaviors that Vietnamese travellers hope to incorporate in their future trips is  reducing general waste - recycling, avoiding single-use items etc (58%). This represents a shift from 2024, when energy consumption was the leading aspiration (56%). 62% of Vietnamese agree that traveling more sustainability is very important to them, and it is among the primary considerations that they make before traveling, while 90%* express a desire to travel more sustainably in the next 12 months.

Locally, 46% of Vietnamese perceive increased littering or waste as a key challenge* from tourism in their own areas, and 56% want to see improved waste management* to make local tourism more sustainable. This heightened awareness extends to broader impacts, with 69% now more conscious of travel's impact on communities as well as the environment*, and *83% aiming to leave places better than they found them. This commitment also impacts booking decisions, as 26% of Vietnamese travelers factor in an accommodation's sustainability credentials into their leisure trip choices.

Ischia, Italy

Spotlight on Destinations

For travelers who are actively seeking ways to reduce the impacts of tourism in the destination, from refillable bottles to recycled bags, Booking.com has curated a list of destinations that are taking proactive initiatives in plastic-free travel.

Hội An, Vietnam: Hoi An is an ideal destination for plastic-free travel, showcasing a long-standing commitment to environmental preservation. Its nearby Cu Lao Cham (Cham Islands), a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve, banned plastic bags as early as 2009. The community and businesses in Hội An are embracing sustainable practices, from refillable product schemes to the use of traditional, natural materials, offering travelers an authentic and mindful experience.

Hoi An, Vietnam

San Pedro La Laguna, Guatemala: This authentic lakeside destination was the first Guatemalan town to ban single-use plastics, styrofoam, and bags. Residents have embraced this change and have adopted traditional handcrafted paper, baskets made of palm leaves and food wrapped in banana leaves to help tackle plastic pollution in the town.

Tofino, Canada: A low-key surf town on Vancouver Island with deep Indigenous stewardship values and objectives in place to help reduce and eventually eliminate the ongoing physical degradation of nature. The city currently has a number of factors in place including Plastic Smart Cities designation, strict municipal bans on single-use items, and businesses offering zero-waste amenities.

Tofino, Canada

El Nido, Philippines: Often overshadowed by Boracay or Palawan, El Nido banned single-use plastics in 2019. El Nido Resorts is the first accommodation provider in the Philippines to sign to the Global Tourism Plastics Initiative (GTPI), with the resort having made impactful plastic reduction changes to their daily operations, including mandating a sachet ban for body care and laundry items such as shampoo, toothpaste, laundry detergent, soap and dishwashing liquid.

Paros, Greece: A picturesque Cycladic Island actively replacing plastics with more sustainable alternatives. “Clean Blue Paros” launched in April 2019, and is a multifaceted sustainability program aimed at making the Greek island of Paros the first plastic-waste-free island in the Mediterranean.

Paros, Greece

Ischia, Italy: In Ischia, there is a pilot project testing reusable systems for food packaging and refill stations for water and cosmetics. In 2019, Ischia banned the use of plastic dishes and straws all over the island to help better protect their sea life and beaches.