Why Iberostar needs to be on your travel radar in 2024

Iberostar Hotels & Resorts is not just a group of four- and five-star beachfront resorts across Europe and the Caribbean; it’s also a leading advocate of sustainable tourism. Thanks to its Wave of Change movement, Iberostar is quickly becoming a zero-waste champion across the travel industry.

Its three pillars of responsible tourism – moving towards a circular economy, promoting responsible seafood consumption, and improving coastal health – create better holidays, and are working to reduce the impact of its hotels, while also working to regenerate and support individual destinations. It’s a win-win.

Iberostar’s sustainability plan is ambitious. By 2025, it will ensure that all seafood served across its hotels is responsibly sourced, and it’s already 83 per cent of the way there.

Its operations teams are busy working on how to source materials that are resusable, implement innovative technologies such as AI to measure impact, and work to send zero waste to landfill.

By 2030, the group hopes to reach carbon neutrality by improving energy efficiency, using more renewable energy, and offsetting emissions by protecting nature in its destinations, such as mangrove forests.

Across Spain at Iberostar hotels, 100 per cent of the electricity used already comes from renewable sources, and Iberostar Bahía de Palma is a groundbreaking project to generate heat through green hydrogen.

Commitment also spreads beyond the business. Iberostar is influencing larger-scale change by sharing insight and ideas with others, for example, sitting on the advisory board of the UNWTO Global Tourism Plastics Initiative and Gloria Fluxá, Vice-Chairman & Chief sustainability officer at Iberostar Group, is currently vice-chair of sustainability at WTTC.

The circular economy – a production and consumption model centred on sharing, reusing, reparing and recycling materials, extending the life cycle of products – also concerns waste, energy and community.

Mindful of this, Iberostar was one of the first hotel groups to eliminate all single-use plastic in 2020, and replace them with reusable or compostable alternatives. Since 2018, efforts such as installing water fountains across 66 hotels have led to the removal of 692 tonnes of single-use plastic per year.

Progress on its zero-waste goal is also evident: in under three years, they have reduced waste sent to landfill by 56 per cent, partly thanks to the commitment of more than 250 employees working in 3R teams across 69 hotels.

AI technology reduces kitchen waste – an understandable priority, considering 8-10 per cent of global carbon emissions comes from food waste. In 2023, this technology helped to save over 921,000kg of food waste across properties.

Adopting a circular approach is a priority for hotel refurbishments too. Leading the way is Iberostar Selection Albufera Resort in Mallorca. Since a complete makeover in 2023, the resort now benefits from solar panels on the roof, an electric buffet and state-of-the-art food waste systems. The property is introducing native plants that require less water and provide a better habitat for local wildlife.

Iberostar continues to reduce the hotel’s CO2 emissions: it is committed to solar renewable energy, and has installed solar panels in the hotel to obtain electricity and heat for hot water and heating systems.

Iberostar Selection Albufera Resort shows Iberostar’s commitment to recycled materials: for instance, the renovation of the swimming pool was achieved with reused materials.

What’s more, the resort is an excellent example of Iberostar’s commitment to the circular economy: it reused, donated and recycled materials and waste generated during its renovation. For example, 18 tonnes of waste was donated to the Deixalles Foundation – and thanks to this donation, a reduction of 51.3 tonnes of CO2 emissions was achieved.

A bonus of adopting a circular economy approach is its positive ripple effect on destinations.

Shifting a hotel’s supply chain creates demand for new local products, providing sustainable economic opportunities in the destinations we love to holiday in. Iberostar’s circular economy guidelines help the business prioritise low-carbon emission products and work with suppliers towards the same goals.

To find out more about Iberostar’s Wave of Change sustainability movement go to Iberostar.com

Listen to the Standard Sustainable Podcast series, in association with Iberostar Hotels & Resorts here