The ABCs of sustainable tourism

Take any certifications into account, but do some of your own sleuthing as well.

Photo: BlueOrange Studio/Shutterstock

No industry has been quite as rife with accusations of greenwashing as tourism. A combination of a growing international appetite for unique, place-centered travel (who wants to spend hours in a plane to vacation where it smells, tastes and looks like home?) along with some unscrupulous, or sometimes ignorant tour companies and destinations has led to plenty of confusion on the subject.

Marcaide: «Hay que integrar la sostenibilidad en la estrategia empresarial de las compañías»

 

 

El Club de Excelencia en Sostenibilidad y Eroski han presentado en la sede de Mahou San Miguel el estudio sobre ‘Consumo Responsable y Desarrollo Sostenible’, que ha sido apoyado por el Ministerio de Empleo y Seguridad Social.

Hoy en día el valor de las empresas ha cambiado mucho y en los últimos años se da mucha importancia a elementos intangibles de las organizaciones como por ejemplo pueden ser la innovación, el conocimiento o la captación de talento; mientras que en los años 40 era todo lo contrario y eran los bienes materiales los que determinaban en mayor medida el éxito de una empresa.

Sustainability: why South Korea’s industrial firms need to do more

South Korea’s industrial exports are widely respected but its companies’ lack of sustainability strategies is holding them back.

A General Electric gas turbine. The company’s sustainability innovation is incorporated into its business model. Photograph: David and Judy Lomax/Rex Features

When it comes to sustainability, industrial firms are perhaps not the first that spring to mind. Their performance is patchy, to say the least. A recent study compared global leaders in the diversified industrial sector – that is to say engineering, construction and production companies, who manufacture a wide variety of products – with their counterparts in South Korea, a country widely respected for its industrial exports. Significant gaps are becoming evident between a small group of leaders, who continue to show groundbreaking innovation, and the rest of the pack.