A business association is born to improve the sustainability of the hotel tourism sector

Re think Tourism, the first innovative business group linked to the energy rehabilitation of hotel buildings, has been presented at the headquarters of Foment del Treball.

Thomas Osborne
Thomas Osborne
28 October 2022 Friday 10:40
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A business association is born to improve the sustainability of the hotel tourism sector

Re think Tourism, the first innovative business group linked to the energy rehabilitation of hotel buildings, has been presented at the headquarters of Foment del Treball. The presentation was made before more than a hundred people, most of them owners and managers of hotel chains and tourist establishments throughout Catalonia.

Rethink Tourism is an entity founded in Catalonia and is made up of hotel chains -more than 500 hotels- that cover the entire state, such as Grupo Catalonia, Grupo Barceló, Vincci and Ilunion, among others. Founded by the Habitat Futura Group and which, together with all the partners, represents 3% of tourism GDP.

The group has strategic partners from research and knowledge centers linked to sustainability such as the UPC (Polytechnic University of Catalonia), the CIMNE (International Center for Numerical Methods in Engineering) and the CETT UB Barcelona School of Tourism, Hospitality and Gastronomy , linked to the University of Barcelona. These centers contribute their I D i at the service of the partners to gain greater competitiveness in the sector through sustainability.

The presentation also revealed the 4 strategic projects that are being developed. The first project will design a system of digital sustainability indicators for the hotel sector that will serve to provide continuous information on the level of sustainability (of the sustainability seals) and the identification of improvements that help decision-making.

The second will serve to define the actions that must be carried out to reduce the energy consumption of tourist accommodation. The actions that are identified to achieve at least 30% energy savings will also serve to determine the amount of aid through subsidies (Next Generation fund).

The third project will study the digitization and interaction with the tourist staying at the hotel with the aim of reducing costs and increasing customer satisfaction. The latest study will share how to manage waste from establishments.

The CEO of Habitat Futura, Celia Galera, has stated that the new group wants to put at the service of tourism entrepreneurs the long experience gained in the Eixample Efficient Island project, where the first energy community made up of owners has been created.

For his part, Xavier Espasa, manager of the innovative business group Re Think Tourism, supports this group with the clear desire to join forces in the face of increased costs and obtain the maximum public aid for the hotel tourism sector.