Traveling without leaving a trace
The sustainable tourismis a way of traveling that seeks to minimize the negative impact of the minimize negative impact on the environment on the environment and local culture, while enhancing the economic and social benefits for the host communities.
This tourism model proposes a new way of understanding travel: not as a simple getaway, but as a conscious experience. It involves choosing responsible accommodations, consuming local products, respecting host cultures and reducing the ecological footprint. But it also requires a structural change in the sector. From environmentalmanagement to urban planning, including circularEconomics and legislation. In final, rethinking the way we travel requires a holistic approach and the promotion of a culture of respect for the ecosystems that surround us and that we visit.
In this report, experts from the University analyze, from their respective fields, the challenges and opportunities of building a more respectful tourism model .
CircularEconomics
throughout the tourism ecosystem
Currently, the professors of Tecnun-School of Engineering are María Jesús Álvarez, Paz Morer, Carmen Jaca, Marta Ormazabal, María Isabel Rodríguez and Rafael Mora are working on the project "Challenges of the tourism sector in the Basque Country: sustainability and digitalization. are working on the project "Challenges of the tourism sector in the Basque Country: sustainability and digitalization. Opportunities and barriers of the PIBA Call" (funded by the Basque Government). The goal is to facilitate the transition of the tourism sector, more specifically the accommodation sector, towards a more sustainable model in order to minimize negative environmental and social impacts, while maintaining a high level of consumer satisfaction and that of all stakeholders.
Rafael Mora highlights the influence that tourism operators and accommodations have on the visitor experience and on the economic and social impact of the community. "They are central agents because they give life to cities and much more. They maintain direct contact with both tourists and residents, which gives them a privileged position to lead and drive change towards a more manager model ," he says.
In the opinion of this researcher from the Biodiversity and Environment Institute Bioma, one of the keys to achieving sustainable tourism is to apply circular Economics criteria - understood as an alternative economic system - to the entire tourism ecosystem in order to minimize the consumption of resources, waste generation, polluting emissions and energy loss.
In this way, he approaches the challenge from a threefold perspective. Firstly, Mora proposes promoting circular business models in the hospitality industry and in the design of services and experiences, with measures such as extending the useful life of infrastructures, promoting coexistence with the community, optimizing water and energy consumption, improving food management -planning menus, reusing ingredients and prioritizing nearby suppliers-, as well as reducing waste through upcycling or suprarecycling practices.
Secondly, he states that it is a core topic for public policies to go beyond promote only eco-efficiency in the use of resources and to support innovation in circular and intelligent business models that are also profitable. Finally, he speaks of promoting public-private partnership to foster innovation, competitiveness and sustainability; and new technologies, which make it possible to optimize processes, improve efficiency in the use of resources and facilitate data decision making.
Tour operators and accommodations are in a privileged position to lead and drive the change towards a more manager model .
Rafael Mora, professor at Tecnun-Escuela de Ingeniería and researcher at the Instituto Bioma
Ecosystems at risk
School of Science teacher Ana Villarroya Ana Villarroyaa researcher at the Biodiversity and Environment Institute Bioma, is part of theHUMAM Humanities Ambientales research group , which directs most of its analysis to the study of the relationship between man and the environment. Villarroya affirms that conventional tourism has a triple negative impact on the environment. First, the physical occupation of the land. "Lodging, resorts and leisure facilities are built on land that before human intervention was home to some subject of ecosystem. Even if they are not habitats of special natural wealth, the sum of actions in this sense is leaving many species without space in which to develop their vital functions," he says.
Along the same lines as Professor Mora, Ana Villarroya warns about the high consumption of energy and water caused by poorly planned tourist activity, in addition to the large amount of waste it generates. She also warns of what she calls the "mentality of disproportionate use": since we have already paid, we feel we have the right to use without measure everything that is offered to us. "Just think of the food that is wasted in subject buffet restaurants, where we often serve ourselves more than we can finish," he exemplifies.
Villarroya also points out the separation between what the tourist complex offers and what is specific to that place: "Often these are experiences that are totally alien to the cultural tradition and natural characteristics of the area (this happens in many theme parks, for example), so the tourist has no idea what is there, and therefore no idea how to take care of it or even respect it".
Ana Villarroya has no doubt that the massive presence of tourists in a place causes damage to certain species, even altering the entire habitat, in what quotation as the 'cascade effect'. "There are aquatic invertebrates that disappear if there is a small level of contamination in the water. With the loss of a species from a place, those that are related to it (such as those that serve as food, or its predators) become unbalanced. There are also ecosystems that may be more affected than others because they are located in places that are especially desirable for tourism, such as maritime dunes, which are under great pressure because they are located in coastal areas, which are very attractive places for operators.
The professor assures that environmentalEducation is necessary to promote a tourism manager, but it will only be effective when it is integral. That is, when it does not focus on educating sustainable habits in the tourist, but on promote in people a way of being well in the world, of relating properly with the rest of nature. "I am going to visit a place that is going to bring me things -the beauty of its landscapes, the contact with the waves, a new gastronomy-: how am I going to be grateful for the gift? This attitude does not only apply to tourists; what's more, if we don't cultivate it in other areas of our lives, we won't succeed as tourists either," he concludes.
Some ecosystems may be more affected than others because they are located in places that are especially desirable for tourism, such as maritime dunes, which are under great pressure because they are located in coastal areas.
Ana Villarroya, School Science teacher
intelligentmobility
and
urban planning
Elena Lacillaa professor at the School of Architecture, considers that the mobility is becoming a core topic in urban policies due to the growth of cities in recent years and the complexity of land use.
According to the United Nations Habitat 2015 report , mobility , understood as the ability to move around the urban space by different means of transport, is the dynamic core topic for territorial planning. "The design of sustainable tourist cities must take into account an intelligent mobility model that ensures universal accessibility, reduces inequalities between territories, and provides sustainable transport systems that favor efficient Economics , a healthy environment, good air quality and the well-being of its inhabitants and visitors," he continues.
Our buildings and public spaces were designed for situations, needs and ways of life that are increasingly distant from our present, let alone the future that must be built.
Elena Lacilla, professor at the School of Architecture
A sustainable city, which integrates the entire tourism ecosystem, must address the triple vision of sustainability: social, economic and environmental. In the social sphere, it must foster social relations; in the economic dimension, it must go beyond the strictly economic element to allow it to contribute to other aspects such as accessibility to goods and services, mobility, safety, quality of life, housing, and the promotion of tourism, among many others. And on the environmental side, it must promote a balance between the territory and the urbanized area itself.
Professor Lacilla is committed to rational land use and integrated urban regeneration. "Our buildings and public spaces were designed for situations, needs and ways of life that are increasingly distant from our present, let alone the future that needs to be built. update and addressing this built environment of the existing city will be fundamental to achieving sustainable planning," she says.
Legal instruments
In the words of Eduardo Valpuestaa professor at the School of Law, the main challenge facing tourism today is to achieve a balance in favoring an activity that provides many resources to countries like Spain; and, on the other hand, to be respectful of the Sustainable development Goals. A challenge that concerns individuals, such as companies and operators, and public administrations that, on occasions, may seek income from tourism and feel tempted to relax the application of rules and regulations. "It is necessary to have effective rules and to achieve a reasonable application of them through administrative and judicial mechanisms. What is not acceptable is the lack of regulation that existed decades ago and that gave rise to the inappropriate growth of tourism without any subject control," he says.
The El Algarrobico hotel, located in the Cabo de Gata Natural Park in Almeria, less than 14 meters from the coast, will finally be demolished after twenty years of legal appeals. At Cabo de Creus, in a rocky area of geological interest in Girona, a tourist complex also had to be demolished to leave the coast in its original state and limit access and uses in the area. These are two examples of how the application of legislation to protect biodiversity and natural heritage can help to promote sustainable tourism.
Valpuesta assures that there are international and national regulations that allow to set the instructions to promote the tourism sector, which combines the interest to generate wealth and contribute to a model manager. In addition, there are non-binding rules and regulations , such as the World code of ethics for tourism, which establishes general principles for sustainable tourism manager ; and the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UN Tourism), a division that deals with these aspects of sustainable and accessible tourism, aligned with the Sustainable development Goals.
We have legislation, but can we say that sanctions for illegal practices are effective today? "In general, the rules and regulations for environmental protection establish the appropriate mechanism of infractions and sanctions that can be imposed by management assistant, but also civil or even criminal legislation allows us to act against manifestations of tourism that harm third parties, such as all the regulations that have been made at the regional level on the authorization of tourist apartments and the sanctions that are established for those who do not comply with them," Valpuesta responds.
It is necessary to have effective regulations and to achieve a reasonable application of them through administrative and judicial mechanisms. What does not fit is the lack of regulation that existed decades ago and that gave rise to the inadequate growth of tourism without any subject control.
Eduardo Valpuesta, Law School professor
TOURISM IN SPAIN
In figures
55,5
MILLION VISITORS THROUGH JULY
76K
MILLIONS OF EUROS IN expense
3
MOST VISITED COUNTRIES: UNITED KINGDOM, FRANCE AND GERMANY
* INE data for 2025.