Featured interview by writer Mark Bibby Jackson for eXist - our monthly bulletin about Climate Friendly Travel

Continuing our series of Climate Friendly Travel Registered Companies, Mark Bibby Jackson chats with Prerna Prasad, the founder of the female-led booking plan for curated eco-hotels in India. Prasad came up with the concept for Ecoplore when on holiday in Malaysia in 2014. “The experience was mind-blowing,” explains the former TV journalist with CNN-IBN. “Each accommodation was different with unique experiences.” 

The only problem was that it had taken her a month to discover the five eco-properties she stayed in, as there was no suitable booking platform for her to use. She could not find a single website that gave her a comprehensive list of eco-hotels.

Doing the Research

Prasad had decided upon taking a sabbatical from her work, as she had become disillusioned with her profession in her native India after being active in the Anna Hazare led anti-corruption movement. She decided that she wanted to, “work on something that actually has an impact”.

“While taking part in the movement, I realised corruption was not the biggest issue because even if we have the best system, and we don’t have fresh water and air, then everything else is null and void,” she says. 

So, returning to India from her holiday she decided to carry out her own research on eco-hotels in her native land. For her, it was vitally important that if real change were to happen then it should involve ordinary people. This is the way she sees us healing ‘Mother Earth’ as she calls nature. Prasad wanted people to explore nature in an eco-friendly manner.

She soon discovered a major issue. “How can any layperson differentiate between a sustainable hotel and one that just claims it,” she says. “Greenwashing is everywhere.” 

A Green Future

In establishing Ecoplore, a mix of ‘eco-friendly’ and ‘explore’, in 2016, Prasad decided that two criteria were key to identifying true eco-hotels. 

The first was that the construction materials should be local and low-carbon, such as mud, wood, bamboo and stone – so no cement or concrete. The second was that “beauty should not be removed from the property”. Every Ecoplore eco-hotel should consist of at least 33% greenery, not including lawns. 

Once hotels meet these basic criteria, other factors are considered such as rainwater harvesting, solar panels, composting, organic farming and no single-use plastic. "Most of the properties are located close to areas of outstanding beauty in remote areas, and produce their own food", Prasad explains. So, staying at one of the places can be combined with local treks, cookery classes and village tours. 

As the website explains, “we emphasise Stay Local, Eat Local, Play Local, Buy Local thereby enabling local communities.” The UNEP has recognised Ecoplore for fulfilling SDG12, to ‘ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns’.

How Ecoplore Works

Currently Ecoplore has a manual booking system, although they are soon going to shift to an Airbnb-style booking system. Visitors can choose between booking nights at one of the 157 properties across the country that have been verified, or book customised trips. These are specifically catered to travellers personal preferences.

Although Prasad says that all hotels can apply, they will be subject to personal visits from female travellers to verify that the hotels deliver on their promise. In addition all the properties are constantly monitored on a daily basis via social media.

Currently most of the hotels applying to be on Ecoplore are excluded as they are built with contain. In the future Prasad is considering introducing a category for concrete properties, so long as they conform to specific criteria, such as rainwater harvesting, solar panels, composting, organic farming and no single-use plastic.

Solo Female Travellers

An important aspect of Ecoplore is that it is female-founded, female-managed and that more than half of the team are female. 

Travelling across India can be a different experience for woman than for men, especially when travelling alone. Part of the logic of Ecoplore is to ensure that solo travel is safe for women, hence the reasoning behind the verification of properties being carried out by women. “When more women are involved in the travel industry, it makes it more safe for solo women to travel,” Prasad says.

Joining the Registry

Ecoplore has recently joined the SUNx Malta Climate Friendly Travel Registry. Prasad explains the reason for so doing was because she felt the idea was “to bring together all the sustainable hotels from around the world together to apply pressure on conventional hotels.”

Likewise she plans to expand the Ecoplore prototype across Asia, initially in Sri Lanka and Nepal, but eventually to countries in South East Asia such as Thailand and Cambodia, as well as to Bali.

Ecoplore has been awarded the Outlook Indian Responsible Tourism Award, the highest award you can receive in India in the field of responsible tourism. By acting as a bridge between eco-stays and travellers, Prasad believes Ecoplore will increase the demand for eco-tourism, thus preventing ecological destruction. She aims to invest all her income generated from Ecoplore in developing a forest and returning it back to nature.

Prasad is confident that the direction Ecoplore is pursing represents the future of the travel sector. She believes that tourism will develop along sustainable lines, particularly in India where “people want fresh air”. 

“There is a very bright future for sustainable tourism,” she says. However, she also believes that in the past ecotourism has suffered in India through an association with low hygiene and comfort standards. This is something she wishes to correct.

“I hope that with gradual awareness, people will understand the true meaning of being eco-friendly,” she says.