Summer travel season is nearly here. Soon we’ll be booking hotels, planning adventures, and spending billions of dollars across the tourism industry. The question is: where will our money go?
This summer, consider making it a “B” summer.
B Corporations are businesses structured to pursue not only profit, but also social and environmental benefit. In a world facing climate instability, over-tourism, nature loss and mounting inequality, where we spend our travel dollars matters more than ever.
A growing number of these companies are also Certified B Corporations, meaning they have undergone a rigorous third-party assessment of their environmental practices, treatment of workers, community impact, governance, and transparency. In other words, they are evaluated not simply on what they say, but on what they actually do.
Within the travel industry, a growing movement sometimes called “B Tourism” is applying these same principles to tourism and hospitality. The movement overlaps strongly with: regenerative tourism, sustainable tourism, eco-cultural tourism, community wealth building and slow travel, to name but a few.
B Tourism represents an important shift in the architecture of travel itself. Instead of asking only how many tourists arrive, these companies ask deeper questions: Who benefits economically? Who has voice? What happens to local culture and ecosystems? And what remains after visitors leave?
The movement is connected to the broader B Lab ecosystem and includes tour operators, lodging companies, travel advisors, destination organizations, and hospitality businesses that are Certified B Corps or aligned with similar values.
Some of the central ideas behind B Tourism include:
• tourism that benefits local communities economically
• environmental stewardship and lower-carbon travel
• fair labor practices in hospitality and tourism
• smaller-scale and culturally respectful travel experiences
• encouraging travelers to think about where their money circulates
Sunset – from the foothills of San Diego County
One of the foundational companies in the movement is UnTours, which became the world’s first Certified B Corporation in 2007. Their model emphasized longer stays, local immersion, and directing tourism dollars into local economies rather than large international chains.
Another major player is Intrepid Travel, now one of the world’s largest B Corp-certified travel companies. Intrepid has become highly influential in pushing the tourism industry toward climate commitments, local partnerships, and community-centered travel experiences.
Across the world, examples are growing. Companies such as G Adventures, Kind Traveler, and Natural Habitat Adventures are helping reshape tourism around community benefit and environmental stewardship. Hotels and hospitality businesses are also rethinking their role, from energy-efficient properties like Hotel Marcel to destination networks focused on preserving culture, ecosystems, and local economies.
As travelers, we often think carefully about where we stay or what we see. Perhaps it’s also time to think more deeply about the kinds of businesses we support — and the kind of world our travel dollars help create.
This summer, maybe the best souvenir we can bring home is knowing our travels helped communities, workers, ecosystems and local cultures thrive along the way.
Happy travels!
Paula