September 2022

Rethink Tourism

By Sabina Fluxá, for World Tourism Day

On World Tourism Day 2022, and in the face of gathering momentum, the UN looks to the future and reminds us that we have a unique opportunity to rethink our business. This means putting people and the planet first and bringing everyone together, from governments and businesses to local communities, around a shared vision of sustainable, inclusive, and resilient tourism. Indeed, we need a shared vision for a sector whose economic and social importance is indisputable: we need only recall that tourism employs nearly 300 million people globally. International tourist arrivals more than tripled in the first half of 2022 compared to 2021. In  Europe, the engine for take-off, the multiplier rose to four. The UNWTO barometer consolidates this optimistic scenario by noting that Europe (up to 80% of 2019 levels) and the Americas (up to 76%) are recording the best tourism results so far this year. And the forecast for the fourth quarter reaffirms this trend.

To rethink tourism is to understand we are all guests of an incredible 5-star hotel: our planet. It is a hotel overlooking infinite seas and beaches, with rocky mountains, snowy landscapes, forests that allow us to breathe, and oceans whose richness sustains our life. Its rooms span countries, time zones, and cultures. The staff communicate in every language, and the restaurants offer an absolute variety of dream menus. Nature is our host, and tourism is the key to enjoying it.

The day we checked in at this fabulous hotel, we were not aware we were being offered a long and free stay, a true all-inclusive. But, along with the opportunity to enjoy our stay, we were invited to take care of the place and its inhabitants. Today, each of us is in time to renew that check-in responsibility with awareness and the desire to contribute what we can from where we are. 

How do we approach this responsibility at Iberostar Group? We try, first of all, to always maintain a long-term vision, building a company that is profitable, a fundamental pillar of sustainability, but also taking into account the positive impact our activity generates in the communities and ecosystems that host us. This work allows us to create a social and environmental legacy, which will be part of the legacy we leave to those who come after us. This is the only way to create value-added tourism.

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We also take care of people. To do so, we listen to those who accompany us along the way: customers, suppliers, local communities, and, of course, our teams, without whom we would not achieve any of the things we set out to do. When 80% of employees told us, through our Work Climate Survey, that they consider training to be key, we invested and have provided more than 150,000 hours of learning this year and created Iberostar Campus, a global digital training platform. We also work to promote the diversity of our talent, a richness that comes from our different nationalities (more than 95), cultures, and languages that make up the Iberostar family. 

And finally, we continue to make progress on our 2030 agenda. To help combat the climate crisis, the tourism sector has set itself the global goal of becoming emission-neutral by 2050. Our challenge as a company is to achieve this goal 20 years earlier. We have an energy efficiency plan to reduce consumption by 8% globally by 2022 and 35% by 2030. This year, our entire portfolio in Spain will consume electricity from guaranteed energy sources. To be waste-free by 2025, we have installed more than 1,300 water fountains in our hotels; our 3R waste management team already has more than 150 people worldwide and will be 100% implemented in all our hotels by 2022; and, in our kitchens we have an artificial intelligence system that helps us reduce food waste.  Our goal to consume fish and seafood from 100% responsible sources by 2025 is close to being achieved: last year we reached 70% globally, in Spain, we achieved 88%, and in Mexico, we have already reached this goal. With respect to our efforts to improve the coastal health of our host ecosystems, we are the only hotel company with its own coral laboratory in the Dominican Republic and underwater coral nurseries in three countries: the Dominican Republic, Mexico, and Jamaica. And in collaboration with local institutions, we support mangrove reforestation at our American destinations and research into the Mediterranean seagrass, Posidonia, in Europe. 

The purpose of our vision, and all the activities that accompany it, is to leave the smallest possible footprint on our planet so that our planet can leave the largest possible footprint on each of us: to take care of the environment so that the environment can take care of us. Only in this way will the earth continue to be that 5-star hotel, unforgettable and incredible, which will be enjoyed by so many generations.

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