Sol Melia is First to Be Certified as “Biosphere Hotel Company”

Sol Meliá became the first hotel company to be certified by the Responsible Tourism Institute (RTI), supported by UNESCO, as a “Biosphere Hotel Company”. After the company Board of Directors approved the corporate Global Sustainability Policy in 2008, and following 13 months work on implementation, Sol Meliá concluded a process which has verified all of the company’s processes and business units on the basis of the criteria which define Responsible Tourism.

Vice Chairman of Sol Meliá Sebastián Escarrer explained the key factors behind certification as well as the significance that being a Biosphere Hotel Company means to Sol Meliá. According to Escarrer, tourism is one of the industries which can bring greatest added value to society and the economy in countries which develop as tourism destinations and all with a minimal environmental impact.

That is one of the reasons why, he said, Sol Meliá, in spite of the economic crisis, became one of the first companies to firmly incorporate into its strategy the criteria defined by the United Nations International Task Force on Sustainable Tourism.

The RTI is the only hotel certification which includes company-wide social, environmental and cultural requirements, and applies all of those requirements to the relationship with all of its stakeholders. In particular, to achieve certification Sol Meliá had to successfully complete an analysis of company activities from a sustainable perspective.

To achieve certification, the chain had to have a minimum of 10 percent of its hotels certified by an official certification agency and then assume a commitment to add more hotels. Sol Meliá currently operates 15 “Biosphere Hotels,” eight hotels that have been awarded “Green Globe” certification, seven with “ISO 14.001” certification and four more with EMAS certification.