In tune with global trends where the new tourist profile demands more sustainable products on their trips, the Undersecretary of Tourism and Sernatur launched the campaign "Chile, promoting sustainable tourism" with which it seeks to raise awareness about the opportunity offered by this scenario to the tourism industry around developing its offer under criteria of sustainability and inclusion.
And it is that 53% of the consumers of metasearch engines such as Booking, declare that they are more concerned about sustainability after Covid-19, 81% define sustainability as a priority in their future trips and even 83% indicate that they want to live at least one time a stay in an ecolodge.
In order to serve this niche of travelers that is growing every day, the invitation that the tourism authorities extend to the tourist service providers is to commit and join in sustainability, thus contributing to positioning Chile as an attractive destination for a segment of tourists more aware of caring for the environment and local communities.
The Undersecretary of Tourism, Verónica Kunze, highlighted that "sustainability is a key issue for the sector, let us remember that close to 63% of foreign visitors state that the main motivation for coming to Chile is to enjoy landscapes and nature, for that protect that heritage is vital. Hence the importance of accelerating profound transformations in the way tourist services operate, not only understanding that sustainability adds value to the business, but also to move towards tourism developed under sustainable and inclusive criteria”.
For his part, the national director of Sernatur, Cristóbal Benítez, pointed out that "The campaign not only invites us to become aware of the latent need to reposition ourselves around sustainability and respond to a new demand for sustainable services, but also calls us to action and adopt good practices that promote the consolidation and increase of a sustainable offer that can already be distinguished through the S Seal and the Certificate of Sustainable Commitment”.
The campaign, in addition to aiming to disseminate the benefits derived from the implementation of good sustainable practices, will also focus on inspiring travelers to have more sustainable and responsible behaviors.
National Table for Tourism Sustainability
The announcement was made at the first table that meets in the year, which is made up of the Undersecretary of Tourism, Sernatur, the Ministry of the Environment, the National Council for Culture and the Arts, the Agency for Sustainability and Change Climate (ASCC), Corfo, FEDETUR, ACHITUR, CHILESERTUR, SOCIETUR, Transforma Turismo, Hoteliers de Chile and ACHET.
In this space, the S Seal of Sustainable Tourism was also awarded to the tour operator Alaya Tour and the Hotel Solaris Vallenar, both from the Atacama Region. The third company to obtain the distinction was the Hotel Almasur de Magallanes, which validated its practices at Level 2, which implies that it meets 75% of the evaluation criteria.