Emerging vacation trend: "lean and green"

Vacations may be put on hold as Wall Street trembles and high gas prices keep consumers at home. But for those still looking to get away, "lean and green" may be the mantra.

That's one conclusion of a survey of more than 3,000 US travelers from TripAdvisor LLC of Newton, which operates such branded travel websites as airfarewatchdog.com and smartertravel.com.

Many of the survey's respondents said they plan to go hiking or engage in an outdoor activity in a national park, and 11 percent of respondents said they are "likely to participate in an extreme sports activity," up from 8 percent a year ago, TripAdvisor said.

(The photo above this story was taken from smartertravel.com, where people are invited to post pictures from their vacations. According to the website, this photo was taken by Heather Wade, and it shows Bryan Nay bungee-jumping off Bob's Peak in Queenstown, New Zealand. The photo at left, provided by TripAdvisor, shows another example of an extreme vacationer.)

No word yet on how many folks qualify as "extreme and green" vacationers, but green thinking is now part of many travel plan decisions.

"Thirty-four percent of US respondents said they will visit an environmentally-friendly hotel or resort in the coming year," up from 30 percent in a previous survey, TripAdvisor said. "Thirty-two percent of those surveyed said they will be more environmentally conscious in their travel decisions this year than they were the year before. Last year, 26 percent said they would be more environmentally conscious."

TripAdvisor's press release included a statement from Michele Perry, a company vice president.

"An emerging trend," she said, "is travelers getting greener."
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)