“Sustainable tourism is profitable”

2023-10-27 06:30:12

“Sustainable tourism is profitable”. This is the maxim that the BTM Forumdedicated to the travel sector, which was held yesterday in Lloret de Mar and which this year has focused on environmental and social responsibility.

In this meeting, where three hoteliers participated who champion the cause as Santiago Hernandezdirector general d’Hotel Negresco Princess i Barcelona Princess, Gabriel Lloberahead of development for Garden Hotels, and Fede Igarzábaldirector of Ecotourism Can Buch, made it clear that the contribution to sustainability brings economic benefits to hospitality and tourism.

As a sign of actions to advance environmental health, Hernández explained to his counterparts that his company, which works in Barcelona, ​​Andalusia and the Caribbean, reuses the glass from the bottles they use to make glasses and elements that they use in the dining room.

For his part, Gabriel Llobera, highlighted that Garden Hotels, with businesses in the Balearic Islands, Andalusia and the Dominican Republic, works with local producers and its own material and has a composting plant that feeds on the nearly 700 kilos of organic matter that is generated daily with the contribution of vegetable waste from the gardens and the contribution of various councils. As he explained, this process generates 105 tonnes of compost suitable for organic farming which they exchange by product with farmers “to close the cycle”.

On the other hand, Igarzábal wanted to explain the business model of Can Buch, established in La Garrotxa, which supplies itself with a wood boiler, collects rainwater, produces its own vegetables, fruit and meat, and avoids use of fossil fuels.

Responsible Tourism

Another outstanding debate of the BTM was led by the general director of Tourism of the Generalitat, Marta Domènechand the academic José Antonio Donairewho focused their intervention on the National Commitment for Responsible Tourism which seeks to plan the future of the sector in Catalonia through participation.

Domènech recalled that there is still a year and a half left to deploy this commitment, he stressed that help lines such as the one endowed with 16 million euros in the field of green energy and that an expenditure of 40 million euros for the reformulation of the accommodations, as he pointed out, while at the end of the month or at the beginning of next year water issues will be protagonists and, likewise, work is being done in the field of food waste.

From the table to the forum

After the table, the inauguration of the forum took place by the general director of Turespanya, Miguel Sanz, who pointed out the responsibility of national tourism companies for Spain to be a “world leader” in the sector. The first presentation of the day was given by Mar Isla, an expert in the circular economy, who compared the Earth to a home and left for reflection the phrase: “if you eat your heritage, you’re left with nothing”.

Next was the turn of Santiago LopezbarrenaDirector of Sustainability at Vueling, put on the table sustainable aviation fuel (SAF in English), which is already “present” and which reduces emissions between 80% and 100%.

Before the end of the forum, Big Data was analyzed as a tool towards the common good and sustainability. An example was the use of macro data that was used to show the relevance in the field of tourism for the information it provides to find solutions in terms of sustainability.

Finally, the program came to an end with a competition of emerging companies, in which Identify and Impact Foods prevailed.

The BTM Forum yesterday hosted the presentation of the first publication of the Climent Guitart Chair, “Guitart Hotels: past, present and future of a family company”. It was prepared by Cristina Guitart, high school student and daughter of Climent Guitart and Cristina Cabañas. He would like to study Management and Business Administration and dedicate himself to the world of Hospitality following the family business: Guitart Hotels. For this reason, he has carried out a research work focused on better understanding what the company’s evolution has been up to the present day.