Nature, a key factor for the competitiveness of the tourism sector in Spain
The Biodiversity Foundation of the Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge (MITECO) has published a study that identifies and assesses the main risks derived from the impacts and dependencies that hotel activity has on nature.
This analysis facilitates the understanding of the relationship between the hotel sector and nature and is part of the project “Nature, an asset for the tourism sector in Spain” framed in the “Changing Lifestyles to Recover Nature” program of the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan (PRTR) financed by the NextGeneration funds of the European Union.
The methodology used includes consultation and contrast work with key agents in the sector, in which hotel chains (Ilunion Hotels, Riu Hotels & Resorts, Grupo Iberostar and Paradores de España), and the Spanish Confederation of Business Organizations (CEOE) have collaborated.
The study highlights the sector’s particular vulnerability to the degradation of nature, revealing its close interdependence with ecosystem services such as the visual amenity offered by the landscape, cultural values, water purification or climate regulation at the local level.
Most of the risks identified (65.26%) are classified as high or very high, which underlines the urgent need for a strategy that contributes positively to the preservation of nature.
Of particular relevance are the transition risks linked to regulatory changes, loss of competitiveness vis-à-vis other destinations and reputational damage.
Thanks to this work, the main challenges facing the hotel sector in its relationship with nature have been clearly identified, as well as the levers of transformation and strategic opportunities that will guide the transition towards a model more aligned with the objectives in terms of restoration and conservation of our natural heritage.
It will serve as the basis for designing a sectoral roadmap with specific goals and actions that can respond to the risks and opportunities detected and allow companies to mobilise towards a new tourism paradigm where nature is not seen as a resource to be exploited, but as a common heritage that we must protect, restore and value.
More information in the report “Risks and opportunities derived from the impacts and dependencies that hotel activity has on nature“.
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