Every choice we make impacts the planet – especially when we’re traveling. Supporting businesses with a commitment to environmental sustainability is valuable whether we’re at home or exploring someone else’s backyard.

Visit Australia Zoo

Queensland’s Australia Zoo remains in the hands of the family of late ‘Crocodile Hunter’, Steve Irwin. Their dedication to animal conservation stretches well beyond the critters you’ll see, in the fur and flesh, during your visit. As well as having an onsite wildlife hospital, the zoo funds conservation projects to help save a range of threatened and endangered birds and animals.

An echidna at Australia Zoo.

One of 18 apartments at Change Overnight.

Stay at Australia’s first social enterprise hotel

Every night you spend at Change Overnight, in Tasmania’s northern city of Launceston, helps to make the world a better place. Australia’s first social enterprise hotel donates a portion of what you pay for your accommodation to a local or international cause.

This boutique self-check-in hotel has state-of-the-art keyless access to 18 self contained apartments, two of which are ADA compliant.

A coffee break that gives back

Melbourne has some of the world’s best cafes, so why not pick one that goes beyond simply making a good brew. Since 2010, social enterprise Streat has supported over 2000 of the city’s marginalized and disadvantaged young people through training and employment. Head to the original cafe, roastery and bakery in inner-city Collingwood to get a full sense of the project.

Try Indigenous produce

Ever eaten a magpie goose pie, or tried green ant gin? Something Wild sells a range of Indigenous produce at Adelaide Central Market in South Australia’s capital city, and supplies some of the country’s top restaurants. Its fresh, native greens, fruits and game meat – think kangaroo, emu, goat and crocodile – have been harvested by Aboriginal people, in keeping with ancestral traditions. Something Wild was dreamed into being by First Nations man and former AFL (Australian Football League) player, Daniel Motlop.

The Tasmanian Land Conservancy helps conserve sites like Egg Islands Reserve.

Star Attraction

A father and his three sons opened Earth Sanctuary just outside the Northern Territory town of Alice Springs in 2000, determined to prove to themselves and others they could create a completely sustainable tourism business. The center offers guided astronomy tours, dining and overnight accommodation. Earth Sanctuary is, as co-owner Tom Falzon puts it, “the ultimate outback location for your space adventure”. They are now 100 percent carbon neutral.

On a Dreamtime SouthernX tour.

Experience Ancient Arts

Owned and operated by Christine Breaden and Peter Abbott, members of the local Wanmarra Aboriginal Community, tours at Karrke Aboriginal Cultural Experience in Watarrka National Park in the Northern Territory, are designed to share and preserve their Luritja and Pertame languages and culture. The generous hosts offer up insights into everything from their art to cultural practices to medicinal plants that have been used for millennia.

Take a Dreamtime Tour

You don’t really know Sydney until you’ve been on a Dreamtime SouthernX tour. “Aboriginal people invite you to come meet us,” says its founder Margret Campbell, who is a proud Dunghutti-Jerrinjah woman. The Rocks Aboriginal Dreaming walking tour is a rich 90-minute introduction to culture designed to help visitors “feel connection to our saltwater harbor environment”.

Scenic World’s thrilling Scenic Railway.

Visit Scenic World

The commitment of Scenic World to sustainability is as awe-inspiring as the views you’ll have of the surrounding World Heritage-listed Blue Mountains from its railway, skyway, cableway, walkways and lookouts. Located in the New South Wales town of Katoomba, an easy 90 minute journey from Sydney, this third-generation family-owned business is focused on minimizing its carbon footprint and serving as an environmental steward for future generations, and is accredited by Ecotourism Australia as a green travel leader.