The Costa del Sol: Pioneering Sustainable Tourism with Carbon Footprint Offset Initiative

In this event, inaugurated by the general director of Turespaña, Miguel Sanz, the best sustainable tourism management practices in Spain were presented, including those implemented on the Costa del Sol, highlighting this innovative system that gives travelers the possibility of offset the carbon footprint that they have generated during their vacations in this destination, reducing the impact of their trip, collaborating in the global fight against climate change and improving the environmental health of the province. In fact, Sanz considered essential “the need for the tourism industry to educate and inform consumers about sustainable tourism management initiatives being carried out by destinations and companies”, while urging this industry to accelerate the transition towards sustainability to achieve zero emission targets by 2050 in topics as diverse as water management, energy efficiency or waste management “so that tourism becomes a viable industry”.

pioneering strategy

The Costa del Sol made a show of its commitment, considered in the 2023 Digital Tourist Awards as “unique” the design of the Costa’s initiative, which has developed an algorithm that through five simple questions, the necessary data is obtained so that the Calculator Tourism estimate the amount of CO2 emitted by the tourist on their trip to this destination and offer some options to offset what is emitted. An initiative that is also available in Spanish, English, German and French to facilitate access to the calculator through the web in each language.

The president of Turismo Costa del Sol, Francisco Salado, has stressed that the great potential and innovation of this unique project is that “the tourist who offsets their emissions through our tool immediately receives a personalized certificate with the WR code and a link to the Forest that has contributed to repopulate and will receive information about it. In this sense, he has insisted that “Turismo Costa del Sol wants to be the spearhead that pushes the rest of the public and private entities to join this global commitment to fight climate change”, recalling that “the project is a commitment for the Tourist Sustainability of the destination, compensating the CO2 emissions of the entity, and defending the environment, for which the tourist with a vision of sustainability is asked to join the conservation of the tourist space.

The entire project was exposed by the Costa del Sol Tourism technician Natalia Bóveda in the first panel of the Turespaña conference in London, focused on the transition to the true goal of zero emissions, which was attended by representatives of ABTA, the Costa del Sol, The Travel Foundation and Visit Cornwall. In this event, a recent survey carried out by the Ministry of Tourism in London, in March of this year, was revealed, in which three out of four citizens of the United Kingdom claim to be “very concerned” about at least one issue of sustainability, climate change and species extinction being the most frequent, while social issues tend to generate less concern than environmental ones. «Turespaña’s strategy encourages exploration of less visited areas of Spain, visits out of season and participation in low-impact activities. We celebrate nature and wildlife and the importance of connecting with local people and cultures, while minimizing any detrimental impacts on communities and the environment. We are proud to be a welcoming and inclusive destination that opens its arms to visitors from very different origins and social conditions”, stressed the general director of Turespaña.