The Global Wildlife Travel Index for 2019 has been released. The report ranked every country on its wildlife traveling offerings, analyzing factors such as wildlife biodiversity, number and size of national parks, and conservation efforts. This year’s report also includes an increased focus on environmental sustainability—something very important to eco-conscious travelers.
With all this in mind, True Luxury Travel, the publisher of the Global Wildlife Travel Index, found Finland to be the best destination in the world for people traveling to see wildlife. Finland’s high level of environmental sustainability, its amazingly diverse array of species, beautiful landscapes, and conservation efforts were factors in the decision. Finland has 39 national parks and forest area that covers more than 73 percent of its land.
Despite being fully modern societies with plenty of development, Finland and Sweden’s Arctic circle region remains one of the wildest corners of the planet. “It never ceases to amaze me that things can survive in this harsh environment,” said Molly Kinnaird, head of Europe at True Luxury Travel. “Plants, humans, and animals have all adapted in amazing ways to withstand the extreme Arctic seasons.”
Finland’s First Peoples are also an important part of the nation’s wildlife tourism draw. “To experience the wildlife and beauty of this corner of the world, nothing gets you closer to nature than spending time with the indigenous Sami people of the Finnish and Swedish Lapland,” Kinnaird said. “They work with the land, animals, and landscape, and it’s fascinating to learn about their culture and how they’re adapting to tackle future environmental changes.”
The Travel Index used third-party sources, including the United Nations Development Program, the World Economic Forum, the Living Planet Index, the World Bank, and Science Direct, to inform the report. Using those sources, they ranked each country in several areas including megafauna conservation, wildlife species, prevalence of national parks, national parks pioneers, protected natural areas, forest area, environmental prosperity, and environmental sustainability, from 1 (lowest) to 5 (highest). They then totaled every country’s score across all the categories to get a final Global Wildlife Travel Index score, with a highest total score of 40. When there was a draw, they used environmental prosperity as the ranking factor.
The top 10 wildlife travel destinations are, in order, Finland, Sweden, Brazil, Canada, the United States, Norway, Spain, Germany, Poland, and Slovenia.
Have you gone on a wildlife tourism trip? Where did you go and what did you see? Let us know in the comments.
Photo: Reindeer in Finland. Credit: Shutterstock