Volume #0
Traveling during low season | Sustainable conscious travel options in Bali, Indonesia
This week’s read time: 6 minutes
In this volume, we’ll explore:
Benefits of Traveling During Low Season
Sustainable Conscious Options in Bali, Indonesia:
🏨 Hotel: Nadi Nature Resort
🍴 Restaurant: Ijen
🎒Tours & Experiences: Away From Home Tour by Away Wanderlust
👉🏼 Travel During Low Season
What’s in it for you?
Fewer Crowds: A more relaxed and enjoyable travel experience for you. Also, better Instagram photos and TikTok videos.
Cost Savings: Take advantage of lower prices on everything, from hotels to tours.
Authentic Local Experience: With fewer tourists, there's an opportunity for more meaningful interactions between you and the locals, giving you a more genuine cultural experience.
What’s in it for Planet, People & Economy?
🌏 Conservation: Popular tourist destinations struggle with over-tourism. Traveling during the low season allows for better conservation practices.
👥 Less Pressure on Local Resources: The high season often brings about challenges related to waste management, water scarcity, and energy consumption. During the low season, there is less strain on local infrastructure, allowing for better resource management.
💼 Economic Stability: Tourism is a significant source of income for many communities. During low seasons, when tourist numbers drop, local businesses still need to generate revenue to remain viable. Traveling during low seasons can contribute to the economic stability of local communities.
Image Source: Nadi Nature Resort
👉🏼 Why is it sustainable conscious?
Nadi Bali is dedicated to minimising its carbon footprint and waste while embracing regenerative farming practices.
They actively support the growth and production of food to sustain their resort and farm café.
Committed to permaculture principles, they compost all food waste from their café, enriching their farm's soil for future harvests.
They collaborate closely with the local Angseri community, employing residents and sourcing produce from neighboring farms to supplement their permaculture gardens.
Their goal is to share their passion for regenerative living and educate visitors about permaculture practices.
👉🏼 What’s in it for travelers?
→ Decked in Nature.
→ A unique educational experience in regenerative living. Your accommodation is no longer just a room you sleep in.
→ Knowing the source of your food (permaculture gardens & local farmers) is low-impact and fresh.
→ Supporting and interacting with the local community. Learn about their culture through genuine everyday interactions.
→ 100% Insta & TikTok worthy!
👉🏼 What can your travel business learn?
→ Unique guest experiences. By involving guests in the sustainability journey, they can personally appreciate the positive impact of their choices and how they contribute to regenerative living. Give them a feel-good reason to boast about the experience back home. Word of mouth is the one of the most powerful forms of marketing.
→ A holistic approach to sustainability, addressing the planet, people, and the economy through waste reduction, local employment, and collaboration with local businesses.
→ Create a closed-loop system where food waste is composted to enrich the soil for future agricultural activities. If your business does not have onsite agricultural activities, give your food waste to a compost expert in your area—better them than the landfills.
→ Actively involve local communities and collaborate with neighboring farms to strengthen community bonds and create a sustainable supply chain. The World Economic Forum shows that sustainable sourcing practices in supply chains can reduce costs by up to 16%. Think about lean procurement strategies and keep in mind that reducing wastage equals saving costs.
Image Source: Designboom
👉🏼 Why is it sustainable conscious?
A nothing-left over culinary experience, Ijen is Indonesia's first zero-waste restaurant. Embracing zero-waste from food manufacturing to meal service.
From snazzy flooring tiled in terrazzo flecked with broken glass and plates, and recyclable wooden furnitures, to drinking glasses repurposed out of beer bottles, the entire restaurant is a sustainable fiesta.
Ijen sources its essential ingredients for food production from local farmers. Local fishermen provide the fish, while local farmers supply the vegetables.
Firewood takes the spotlight in the kitchen, infusing every dish with that extra special oomph.
The restaurant separates all their waste into organic and inorganic categories, composting the organic waste into farm fuel while giving inorganic waste a second life through recycling.
👉🏼 What’s in it for travelers?
→ A community-centric culinary experience.
→ Knowing the source of your food is low-impact and fresh.
→ How often do you get to eat fresh seafood cooked over firewood?
→ Cushions made from foam recycled motorcycle seats, do we really need to give you more reasons?
→ Oh wait, yes, 100% Insta & TikTok worthy ;)
👉🏼 What can your travel business learn?
→ Opt for recycled or recyclable furniture, contributing to a stylish yet eco-friendly interior design. If your restaurant already have existing furnitures, fix them, refurbish them, resell them, donate it to you local thrift shops, or give them a second life—try not to just dump them. This also provides your restaurant with a unique selling point to market yourself.
→ Always prioritise sourcing locally for essential ingredients. Not only are you supporting the local economy, but you are also reducing the carbon footprint associated with transportation. This could significantly decrease your food cost compared to imported produce. If ingredients are not available locally, why not try to find local alternatives.
Image Source: Away Wanderlust
👉🏼 Why is it sustainable conscious?
Gede, a native of Bali and the owner of Away Wanderlust, is what makes the Away From Home Tour sustainably conscious.
One of Gede's main motivations to start this tour was the desire for tourists to understand that Bali is so much more than just fancy beach clubs and pretty cafes.
He wanted to showcase the true Balinese way of living by opening up his family home to visitors.
Forget everything you think you already know about Bali; this tour provides a firsthand experience of Balinese culture and its beautiful family traditions.
Guests will visit Gede’s village, spend the night sleeping in his actual house, trek to the village’s waterfall, shower in the river like the locals do, learn the process of how the Balinese make the local spirit “arak,” make palm sugar from scratch, cook together with the family, and dine in a “Megibung feast” Balinese style.
Sorry, not sorry, but you’ll even have to wake up early to work as the locals do, cutting wild grass and feeding the cow. We know, how awesome!
Trust us when we say this is truly a humbling and life-changing experience you will remember for the rest of your life!
This tour is 100% locally owned and operated.
👉🏼 What’s in it for travelers?
→ Once-in-a-life time experience
→ 100% authentic Balinese living; this is not a gimmick. Gede’s family is not putting on a show; you live how Gede lives, period. Do we really need to list out other reasons now?
→ You are directly supporting the local community; there is no economic leakage. Every dollar you spend is going straight back into Gede’s family and his village. You know where your dollar is going.
→ You are helping to preserve the Balinese traditions. By showing an interest in the Balinese culture through this experience, you are demonstrating to Gede’s village that their culture is very much valued by people from around the world and should be sustained and preserved.
→ Bragging rights to say that you have truly been to Bali ;)
👉🏼 What can your travel business learn?
→ Provide genuine cultural experiences. More and more travelers are seeking meaningful and immersive experiences that connect them with local cultures. As a tour operator, especially if you are native to the destination, think about what you do on a daily basis; even things that might seem mundane to you might be a “once-in-a-lifetime” experience for tourists. Think outside the box.
→ Benefiting both travelers and the local community. When curating a tour, instead of solely focusing on how the experience benefits tourists, consider ways to contribute to your own community. For example, if your tour involves hiking with snacks or lunches, consider purchasing them from local restaurants in your community. Think about how the economic benefits of tourism can remain within the local community.