Hereu insists at the G20 Tourism meeting on moving towards a sustainable tourism model

September 21 () –

The Minister of Industry and Tourism, Jordi Hereu, advocated this Saturday during the meeting of tourism ministers of the G20 countries, held in the Brazilian city of Belèm, for moving towards a sustainable tourism model that puts people at the center.

Hereu said in his speech as the guest country at the meeting that Spain has a “leading position” in tourism at an international level – it is the second most visited country in the world after France – and that they are working to “also lead the transformation of the model” and thus ensure its sustainability.

In this regard, at the meeting held under the motto ‘Building a fair world and a sustainable planet’, Hereu highlighted the “important social contribution” of tourism and its “fundamental role” in job creation, as well as the generation of wealth for citizens and its contribution to the preservation of the environment.

In line with these milestones, the Minister has called on the other delegations to acknowledge national progress in terms of employment and public policies aimed at strengthening the so-called triple sustainability: economic, social and environmental.

Specifically, Hereu has listed that Spain has allocated 10 million euros to social sustainability plans, which include measures in the area of ​​gender equality, functional diversity, training and professional development of workers, and another 59 million for the digital skills plan, which improves the training of professionals.

“Tourism is key to social cohesion and it is essential to invest in training and quality of employment,” added Hereu.

The latest public data indicate that tourism employment grew by 5.5% in August and added more than 151,000 members compared to a year ago, reaching a total of 2.9 million workers employed in the sector.

The ministry also stressed that 21.7% of employees in the sector are foreigners, “well above” the average for the Spanish labour market, while in the hospitality industry, a “key subsector” within tourism, 53.5% of employees are women.

Furthermore, after having held several bilateral meetings, Hereu has identified the overcrowding of some destinations, the regulation and control of rental housing for tourist use, the preservation of historical and cultural heritage, geopolitical threats and the challenges associated with climate change as tourism challenges.

Under this premise, the minister has stressed the importance of “governing tourism, which means acting on its undesirable effects, transforming the conditions with effective policies committed to society.”

On the other hand, Hereu has announced that on October 9th a new meeting of the Spanish Tourism Council (Conestur) will take place, the forum for dialogue between the public and private sectors whose objective is to advance the roadmap for tourism in Spain and in which the results of the participatory process carried out for the development of the sustainable tourism strategy 2030 will be presented.