Sustainable practices, commitment to the environment, supplier responsibility and customer awareness, keys for the future

The fourth table of the XX International Tourism Forum focused on energy issues under the premise of "Affordable and non-polluting energy", being moderated by the general secretary of HOSBEC, Nuria Montes, and in which the person in charge of services participated Meliá International Hotels technicians, Ingrid de la Fuente, the chief engineer of Benidorm City Council, Juan Carlos Sánchez Galiano, and the manager of the Solar Cover company, Luís Navarro.

To point out the importance of the energy parameter in the tourism industry, Montes introduced the issue in the particular context of the hotel industry, noting that "even before the definition of the SDGs, sustainability was a constant in the sector and energy saving was a fundamental piece". At a general level of the sector, after pointing out energy consumption figures, she stressed that tourism is not a major consumer of energy; "In the Valencian Community it represents 7% of the total, compared to 42'4% of the Industry and 10'2% of domestic consumption."

Since 2010, he highlighted, there has been an inflection in consumption due to the application of reducing measures and at this time, "21% of hotels have applied energy efficiency solutions, another 21% use renewable energy and 90% of hotels are in a position to reduce their consumption ”.

The speakers, in their speeches, highlighted that "the trend is decarbonisation" and went into details of buildings with energy consumption to be reduced, actions on the skin of buildings and designs of urban structures that make road traffic even more efficient.

Ingrid De la Fuente defended that the hotel sector is "responsible, safe, respectful with the environment and very competitive", pointing out the key actions that her Meliá has developed: "digitization of energy supplies and control over waste", to highlight the proper functioning of its Co2rporate Project, which "adds to the monitored electricity consumption controls the intelligent management of the air conditioning systems through artificial intelligence and Big Data", Co2porate has reported to the group in 5 years a saving in emissions, consumption and expenses per amount exceeding 14 million euros.

Luis Navarro, manager of Solar Cover company, has highlighted the need to use renewable energies and the bet of Benidorm company for photovoltaic energy advocating, since the city is in height, for "the architectural integration of photovoltaic panels that In addition to generating electricity, they are an active insulating element ”. Navarro exhibited several examples of realizations and his solar pergolas "which also provide shade and add aesthetic functionality".

The chief engineer of the Benidorm City Council, Juan Carlos Sánchez Galiano, made his intervention on "the fundamental role of public administrations in the dissemination and visualization of the commitment to renewable energies and efficiency", influencing the plans of the city of Benidorm for energy saving and sustainable mobility that reaches the issues of urban transport -that integrates residents and tourists-, the pedestrianization of roads and the development of a network of urban cycle routes of more than 90 km, "generating strategies of spaces urban "

Sánchez Galiano concluded by pointing out that “to Benidorm's references to the most effective urban planning and the most efficient water cycle we must add that of energy efficiency”, just as it should be noted “that 70% of trips are made to foot and even when the city has grown this parameter remains intact in the last 20 years ”.

The table recommended "acting in the public space as Benidorm acts" and specifically "as in the last five years" through urban surgery plans that give added value to places and make a better city as a whole ", recognizing that" Benidorm is a very efficient destination ”.