The 18th Conference on Risk Management in the Tourism Sector was held in Palma on Friday. Among challenges for tourism in the Balearics that were identified, sustainability and climate change were high on the agenda.
In addressing sustainability, the president of the Mallorca Hoteliers Federation, Maria Frontera, emphasised that each company moves at different speeds. "The most important thing for us at a societal level is to have lines of action in terms of circularity that differentiate us as a tourist destination."
On tourism growth, she said: "We have to look at how we grow and not so much at what the percentage of growth is." On one current trend, that of tourist spending in destination, she observed that consumption has decreased alarmingly.
The CEO of the Avoris travel company, Vicente Fenollar, stressed that the challenge of sustainability is a global one. "If this leads to a price increase, we will have to accept it, because the planet is what it is. Demand will not be affected by this because everyone is nowadays aware that we must be sustainable."
The president of Confederation of Balearic Business Associations, Carmen Planas, alluded to staffing problems that have been experienced over the past couple of seasons in insisting that there has to be a focus on training and specialisation in order to create the employment that is really needed.