Saskia Griep
Saskia is our expert on three of our break-even travel principles: an even distribution of people, an even distribution of money and an even distribution of knowledge.
Saskia Griep – Expert on adventure tourism and putting responsible travel in practice
Saskia Griep studied at NWIT (now Buas), then started traveling and finished a master in anthropology. During her studies she worked at Vluchtelingenwerk and Unicef in Colombia. She always wanted to work in development cooperation, but found out that things went much too slowly there and that she was much more suited to the business world. After her studies, she started at Sawadee Travel where she worked for many years as a tour operator manager and sustainability coordinator. She saw that tourism can be used very well for development cooperation because it is an accessible industry and there is a lot of work for low-skilled personnel. According to Saskia, sustainability is part of quality and not something you do on the side.
She started Better Places in 2014 to respond to the increasing demand for authentic travel experiences and customization and to prove that you can build a successful company by focusing on sustainability. In may 2018 Better Places became the first Certified B Corporation travel company in the Netherlands
Better Places is a fast-growing travel platform that offers high-quality travel experiences with a focus on nature and the local population. Travellers design their own tailor-made trip together with a travel expert, who has been living in the destination for years. On the German market they operate under the name Fairaway.
At the beginning of 2021 Saskia founded Avontuur Dichtbij together with Kim Nooyens. Avontuur Dichtbij offers individual and small group packages in the Netherlands and Belgium. The activities are on foot, by bicycle, by canoe or sailing ship. During the micro adventures you go outside and leave the daily grind behind you. Avontuur Dichtbij wants to connect between city and countryside and between the different cultures within the city.
Saskia’s thoughts on the future of travel
The future of travel is not about traveling less, but traveling in a different way. It’s much more about quality then about quantity. With travel come many good things. Travel brings you happiness. It brings you a better understanding of other cultures. You get to witness with your own eyes how beautiful our world really is. And what you find beautiful, you also want to protect.
Tourism provides local employment and helps preserve nature reserves and cultural heritage. And yet often only a small part of tourism income actually ends up in the hands of local residents, which is so important. That is why I like to work with local travel experts, guides and small-scale hotels that are run by families.
It really worries me that air tickets are so cheap these days that we have forgotten how special it is, and do not realize how bad for the environment it is. We need to realize that it’s not normal to take a faraway trip every year. A long-haul trip should be a special event, not just another holiday. We all need to play a part in emphasising this message.
COVID-19 has helped this and attitudes are changing. People have slowed down and are paying more attention to the details around us. I hope that we’ll continue to appreciate what is closer to home.
We must work together to lobby and influence policies on a national, regional, and global level. I don’t think we will make a difference if we only focus on changing customer behaviour. There needs to be change at a higher level.
Better Places is one of the founding signatories of Tourism Declares. I think that Tourism Declares can play a leading role in encouraging everyone to think big, and lobby for greener policies in aviation and elsewhere. If you listen to the scientists, we do have solutions out there; we need to change how we’re doing things. It’s a matter of resetting priorities. If we don’t act together and fast, there may not be a travel industry left.
Ask Saskia about: Community Based Tourism / calculating and reducing CO2 emissions of travel / creating positive impact in travel / certification / innovation in travel/ social entrepreneurship
