Information for tour operators
“The first place to look for green holidays”
The Sunday Times
Greentraveller is one of the UK's most trusted guide to genuinely environmentally minded holidays. The site currently features over 1,500 holidays organised by hand-picked specialist tour operators in 28 countries. All the trips featured on greentraveller can be reached overland from the UK by train and/or ferry.
The Sunday Times described Greentraveller as “the first place to look for green holidays” and Greentraveller recently featured in both the Independent’s “50 best travel websites” and the Guardian’s list of “the best travel websites ever”.
Below is information about how tour operators list their holidays on greentraveller, a bit of info about our search engine optimisation, an introduction to our team of leading eco travel writers, and finally a few examples of some of the wonderful press coverage we have received.
Site statistics: Latest figures: greentraveller.co.uk receives an average of 50-55k unique visitors a month and over 1.25 million page views a year. In 2010, greentraveller received over half a million unique visitors, which is up 300% since 2009. 70.41% of greentraveller’s users live the UK (google analytics, Sep 2010). Greentraveller also receives a significant number of users from the following countries: United States, Ireland, France, Australia, Canada, Italy, Germany, Spain and The Netherlands.
78.93% of traffic comes from Search Engines (predominantly Google and Facebook), 11.38% from Referring Sites (such as guardian.co.uk, bbc.co.uk, telegraph.co.uk) and 9.39% from Direct Traffic. Greentraveller currents has over 1,600 fans on facebook and over 5,600 followers on twitter.
Sample holiday entry
Please note: Greentraveller only features holidays that can be conveniently reached by train/ferry. We provide links for every trip to the relevant page in our unique journey planner. For an example of a listing, see the full entry for the above holiday: /walking-bernese-oberland-switzerland.
Search engine visibility
Greentraveller has excellent visibility on search engines because it contains unique, professionally written content and also because it has over 5,000 links to it, including many high profile resources, such as the BBC, the Guardian, the Independent, The Times, the Daily Telegraph, the Daily Mail, Conde Nast Traveller, as well as highly respected green-minded magazines such as The Ecologist, Resurgence and Green Futures.
Keyword search engine optimisation
GreenTraveller has a google rating of 5. Key in most search terms related to environmentally minded travel and greentraveller is usually listed in the first tranche of results.
Twitter
greentraveller has over 5,600 followers and is included on over 350 Twitter Lists.
Facebook
greentraveller’s page has over 1,600 fans.
Testimonials
"Saddle Skedaddle have been proud to be associated with Greentraveller since its launch.... With regards to up-loading content, we have found their site very easy to use, with the uploading of information (especially photographs) an incredibly easy system to use. Marketing wise they are prolific in respect of articles, both on-line and press driven, all backed-up with informative and targeted newsletters and communications. Saddle Skedaddle would have no problem in recommended them to prospective suppliers and with ethics and a moral standpoint that is second to none, Greentraveller heads the field.”
Andrew Straw, Founder, Saddle Skedaddle, Voted Best Small Tour Operator in the Guardian and Observer Travel Awards, 2009
"As a tour operator specialising exclusively in ecotourism experiences inSweden, Nature Travels has found Green Traveller a very useful marketingchannel to target travellers with a genuine interest in sustainable tourism.The online interface is user-friendly, allowing us to keep tour details updated and manage our listings with minimum effort."
Bob Carter, Co-founder, Nature Travels
Our team of leading travel writers
Richard Hammond: The founder of greentraveller.co.uk. Richard is also the travel editor of National Geographic’s quarterly Green magazine supplement and is the co-author of Clean Breaks – 500 new ways to see the world (published by Rough Guides). From 2004-2008, Richard was the Guardian’s eco travel correspondent. Richard is regularly asked to contribute articles and comments on green travel for TV, radio and a variety of publications. Recent credits including BBC Wildlife, BBC Countryfile, Community Care, The Ecologist, Eve Magazine, Geographical, Green Futures, Guardian Unlimited, Harper’s Bizarre, ivillage.co.uk, Livewire, Marie Claire, New Consumer, The Observer, Resurgence, SmartPlanet, Sunday Times Travel magazine, The Times, Timesonline and Wanderlust. Richard is a special advisor on Sustainable Tourism to the Association of Independent Tour Operators.
Catherine Mack: Catherine writes the fortnightly Ethical Traveller column in The Irish Times. She has also written for The Guardian, The Observer, The Independent and The Daily Telegraph. Catherine has an Msc in Responsible Tourism Management, has produced several responsible tourism handbooks for The Irish Tourist Board, Failte Ireland, and Visit England in 2009 and is the author of Ecoescape: Ireland, published 2008.
Paul Miles: Paul has been writing about green travel for over a decade. He is a regularly contributor to a variety of publications, predominantly the Financial Times, Conde Nast Traveller and The Ecologist. Paul lived for five years on the Solomon Islands in the South Pacific where he worked on community ecotourism with WWF and other NGOs. He now lives on a narrow boat in the Midlands.
Anna Shepard: Anna is a well-known writer on green living, responsible travel and the environment, contributing to many national newspapers and magazines, including The Times, The Guardian, The Telegraph, Prospect magazine, Red magazine, Elle magazine and The Ecologist. She wrote the Eco Worrier column for the Saturday Times for four years and was a judge for The Times’ Green Spaces Awards. Her book, How Green Are My Wellies, published by Transworld in 2008, argues that you can make your life greener without compromising on having fun. It was shortlisted for a Clarion Award. She also appears on radio and TV, including BBC News 24, Countryfile, Radio 5 Live and BBC Radio Wales.
Philippa Jacks: features and supplements editor of Travel Trade Gazette.
Other contributors: Jeremy Smith, former editor of the Ecologist; Jane Dunford, contributor to Guardian, Sunday Telegraph, Observer ; Simon Wilson, staff writer at The Week.
Trusted Brand
Here's a snapshot of some of the wonderful press coverage we've had over the last 5 years:
22 November 2010: greentraveller's founder Richard Hammond runs a Green Travel Clinic on the Guardian Website
25 October 2010: greentraveller is short-listed for the British Travel Press Travel Editors' Green Award
11 September 2010: greentraveller is featured as Site of the Week in the Irish Independent newspaper
5 September 2010: greentraveller is the featured Site of the Week in the Independent on Sunday newspaper
1 September 2010: greentraveller's ferry guide for foot passengers is featured in TravelMole ('New Green Guide to Ferry Crossing'), E-tid ('Go greener: take ferries by foot'), Parenting Without Tears ('Ferry services for foot passengers'), and PATA ('Ferried away with green travel'),
31 August 2010: greentraveller launches online ferry guide for foot passengers in collaboration with the Passenger Shipping Association
9 July 2010: Sunday Times journalist and SEO expert Mark Hodson tweets: "I am increasingly impressed with Richard's website: www.greentraveller.co.uk. Sets high standards."
25 May 2010: Greentraveller's Richard Hammond writes about 'Ecotourism Breaks' in BBC Countryfile
19 May 2010: Greentraveller's rail planner mentioned by Tom Hall (Lonely Planet) in Guardian's Live travel Q&A today.
15 May 2010: Greentraveller's Richard Hammond writes about Responsible Whale-watching Holidays in Geographical - the magazine of the Royal Geographic Society.
10 May 2010: Greentraveller's Richard Hammond profiles swimming holidays in National Geographic GREEN magazine supplement
20 April 2010: Greentraveller's Richard Hammond is interviewed on BBC Radio Wales on the consequences for alternative transport in the wake of the ash fall out.
16 March 2010: Greentraveller's Richard Hammond quoted in this Times article on sustainability in the hotel industry: The Business of going green
7 March 2010: Greentraveller's Catherine Mack profiles Eco Breaks in the UK in Geographical -the magazine of the Royal Geographic Society.
25 February 2010: greentraveller's entire Green Travel List is published in the Guardian newspaper, in association with Forum for the Future
Feb 2010: greentraveller's entire Green Travel List is published in the Guardian newspaper, in association with Forum for the Future
Feb 2010: greentraveller profiled as Mail Online's Website of the Week
Feb 2010: Guardian features the re-launch of greentraveller: "Award-winning green travel forum and blog, has relaunched with new trip-planning and booking tools"
Dec 2009: greentraveller given 4/5 stars by Conde Nast Traveller, which describes the site as “quirky and personal, with a really genuine feel to it”
Nov 2009: Winner of the British Travel Press Awards: Travel Editors’ Green Award 2009
Oct 2009: greentraveller listed in the Telegraph’s list of ‘Best Travel Websites’.
March 2009: Timesonline described greentraveller as: "The leading British website for eco travel - great for news, green travel tips and inspiration for a low-impact holiday.”
Oct 2007: The Sunday Times names greentraveller as one of ‘Five Best of the Net’ (alongside Mr and Mrs Smith, Lonely Planet and Timeout): “Greentraveller.co.uk: a site we should all be using more often. The journalist Richard Hammond’s web pages are the first place to look for green holidays and for discussions on environmental issues.
Nov 2006: Greentraveller is the Guardian's Site of the Week.
October 2006: Greentraveller.co.uk launches.
For a comprehensive review of all of our press coverage, see: Press Coverage.
Application for tour operators
If you would like to upload your trips on to the greentraveller website, please contact us by email: sales AT greentraveller.co.uk or please do give us a ring, tel: +44 (0)20 7561 7480.
Greentraveller Limited
Durham Road Resource Centre, 86 Durham Road, Islington, London, N7 7DT United Kingdom
Twitter: @greentraveller
Facebook: greentraveller
