Fostering a new holiday model to increase time spent at the destination and sponsoring technological solutions and management models to mitigate the impact of tourist activity on the environment are just two of the key points made today in Barcelona by the experts taking part in the TurisTIC Forum, the congress on innovation and technology in tourism organised by the Eurecat technology centre.

At the congress, Jeremy Smith, the independent expert on Tourism and Climate Action and co-author of the Glasgow Declaration on Climate Action in Tourism, underscored the need to “encourage longer holidays closer to home which make it possible to increase time at the destination and travel less.”

In his view, “tourism should prioritise efforts to switch from an extractive model to a regenerative one which brings benefits to the communities and ecosystems in which it operates.”

He pointed to these and other transformations, such as low-carbon alternatives for trips, encouraging travel by train or using cleaner fuels, which ought to be undertaken to achieve zero global emissions from tourism by 2050 as suggested by the Glasgow Declaration, a worldwide initiative led by the United Nations.

Likewise, signatory organisations of the declaration, the Catalan Tourist Board, Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat de Catalunya and the European Travel Commission, have shared actions they have rolled out to help decarbonise tourism.

At its twelfth edition, the TurisTIC Forum brought together companies from the tourism sector, innovation and technological development, specialised trade associations and tourism organisations to learn about and discuss initiatives geared towards the sustainability of tourism against a background shaped by the climate emergency which is already impinging on the industry’s operations.

The event was designed to “showcase technologies and projects to unlock innovation and sustainability in tourism to enable companies and destinations to embrace them as tools for differentiation which generate new business models and as practices that help towards climate resilience and the wellbeing of society,” said Daniel Altimiras, chair of Eurecat, at the forum’s institutional session which also featured Arantxa Calvera, director of the Catalan Tourist Board, and Ana Maria Martínez, deputy chair of Barcelona Provincial Council’s Economic Development and Tourism Unit.

Innovation solutions in tourism for water and waste management

The congress hosted water resource management technology initiatives, including measures to save and use water sustainably and others for dual use through reuse, presented by the Catalan Water Partnership, the Barcelona Hotel Association, Swifton Innoveering and Eurecat.

There is “a wide range of tools and technologies on the market which make it possible to greatly reduce water usage in the tourism industry, such as highly efficient pool water filtration systems, landscaping with plants with very low water demand and smart watering, and grey water purification systems which deliver sufficient quality for reuse,” noted Carme Bosch, head of the Soil and Groundwater Line in Eurecat’s Water, Air and Soil Unit.

Reuse was also one of the core themes at the session on the circular economy and waste management. Here, PortAventura World, which is an AENOR ‘‘Zero Waste’’ certified resort, recovered 95 percent of its waste in 2023 and in the period from 2019 to 2023 achieved a 12 percent reduction in the number of tonnes of waste per million visits and overnight stays.

“These reductions are made possible by a plan which cuts across all the company’s business areas in a number of projects such as using ERP software systems tapping artificial intelligence to improve demand forecasting, fine-tune raw material stocks, streamline resource allocation and minimise food waste,” commented Choni Fernández, PortAventura World’s Chief Sustainability, Customer and Communication Officer.

The panel discussion also heard about schemes run by businesses to collect and recover waste from the sea or reuse items such as headphones from tourist visits.

Digital transformation for sustainable tourism

Digital transformation is crucial for the sustainability of tourism and the forum presented case studies of technological solutions which Hotel Melià, Vueling, Tarannà Viatges amb Sentit and Cetursa Sierra Nevada are rolling out in their strategy to make their operations as efficient as possible. The data spaces sponsored by the European Union will play a key role in this digitalisation and the Tech Tourism Cluster, SEGITTUR and MASORANGE discussed at the TurisTIC Forum the opportunities they will provide in terms of getting quality and open tourism indicators to create value in the industry.

The congress also featured best tourism practices in unique initiatives on sustainability and environmental stewardship run by the CAR Ballena Alegre campsite, the Blaumar Group, The NeverRest Project, Bookline, the Catalan Tourist Board and the innovative video “Greal: the secret of the eight keys”.

Responsible initiatives on the impact of tourism on its ecosystem

In the camping industry in the coming years, “we will see major breakthroughs to factor in sustainability, inclusion and the relationship with the environment,” pointed out Àlex Trias, director of the CAR Ballena Alegre Campsite.

“Our analysis of the current situation has prompted us to be mindful of and responsible for the impact we have on our ecosystem and thus recognise that moving forward means working across the board with local stakeholders in tourism management for the benefit of all of us and finding ways to make it compatible.”

Indeed, geographer and 3Cat weatherman Francesc Mauri warned in his talk at the TurisTIC Forum that the Catalan coast will be completely different in the coming decades, for example with temperatures in Barcelona in 2050 like those in Malaga today, and that extremely fast variations in the climate will lead to structural changes throughout the country. “Taking courageous, sensible and cross-cutting action will help to mitigate the unquestionable and inevitable changes which are coming and will continue to come,” he argued.

TurisTIC Forum is organised by Eurecat and sponsored by the Government of Catalonia, Barcelona City Council and Barcelona Provincial Council.