Tourism

The winners were the Hotel Princess for a CSR project, the Yurbban Hotel for a water-saving initiative, Casa Vicens for a project focused on the revival of traditions, and the Wodcelona Inclusive International Crossfit Competition.

The Barcelona Sustainable Tourism Awards for Best Practices are held every year with the aim of promoting sustainability within the sector, and recognising the effort and dedication shown by companies to make progress in different forms of sustainability.

As part of the Business With Social Value conference held at the Hotel Alimara, Eduard Torres, chair of Turisme de Barcelona, Xavier Marcé, acting councillor for Tourism and Creative Industries, and Abigail Garrido, deputy delegate for Tourism, presented the awards for the four categories: Social; Environmental; Cultural, Natural and Traditional Heritage, and Accessibility.

The awards went to the Hotel Princess for a staff CSR programme; the Yurbban Hotel for a water consumption reduction project; Casa Vicens for maintaining the traditional Santa Rita festivities, and the Inclusive Cross Fit race Wodcelona was also a winner.

A total of 50 entries were submitted this year, twice as many as the average of just 25 seen in previous years – clear evidence of the sector’s growing interest in sustainability. This was highlighted by Eduard Torres, chair of the Turisme de Barcelona Executive Committee, when he said that “commitment to sustainability is gaining ground in the travel industry, and the consortium will continue to emphasise its importance because it’s a part of our identity, and is consistent with our values as an environmentally committed society”.

The jury for the awards was made up of members of the committee of the Barcelona Sustainable Tourism (BST) programme run by Turisme de Barcelona, and the event was part of the Business With Social Value conference. The consortium is involved with the conference as it helps publicise the products and services provided to institutions, organisations and commercial companies by of non-profit Special Employment Centres and job placement companies.

World Environment Day

World Environment Day is 5 June, and once again this year Turisme de Barcelona aims to collaborate by bringing visibility to the event, which this year will focus on climate change, and more specifically on the issue of water, and the water crisis affecting the region.

Two activities have been planned for the three days leading up to World Environment Day: fun and games led by Animarius to look at the issue of drought, as a part of Barcelona City Council’s “Every drop counts” campaign, on the mornings of 1 to 3 June at the Tourist Information Office in Plaça Catalunya. There will also be a guided walk on Montjuïc mountain on the morning of 3 June to see how the impact climate change can already be perceived in the everyday natural landscape in Barcelona’s immediate surroundings.