Tourism Minister: Spain Is a Pioneer in Implementation of Social Sustainability Plans

The Spanish Minister’s comments came during the High-Level Forum of the UN General Assembly on sustainable and resilient tourism held in New York, AtoZSerwisPlus.com reports.

During her speech called ‘Putting sustainable and resilient tourism at the heart of an inclusive recovery,’ Maroto urged the Member States of the United Nations to include the social dimension in their policies of tourism in order to promote an inclusive recovery of the tourism industry in countries worldwide.

“These plans will have a very positive impact on improving the competitiveness of the tourism sector since they will allow actions to be carried out in two fundamental areas of the social sustainability of tourism in Spain,” according to Maroto.

• The first will be focused on labor rights, the extension of good practices in the work environment or the quality of the employment contract, as well as the fights against discrimination at work.
• The second will be focused on the participation of companies in the development of actions in terms of inclusion or the fight for gender equality.

According to the Minister, this scheme will bring benefits to 75 per cent of workers in the tourism sector, while adding that social agents, as well as local administrations, will help in the implementation of these social sustainability plans.

During her speech at the UN, Spain’s Tourism Minister unfolded its plans for the country’s tourism as an essential element of economic and social development.

“Tourism is a sector capable of generating well-being and social development in all the world’s countries. Therefore, we must work so that it is also a sector that attracts the best talent, especially young people, and provides the greatest possible benefit to the communities that host it,” according to Maroto.

The tourism sector is among the most important industries for Spain’s economic sector.

Based on the data provided by the Spanish Statistics Institute (INE), tourism in Spain reached 71 per cent of pre-pandemic levels during February, while the number of international arrivals increased to 3.2 million. At the same time, the INE report revealed that spending rates surpassed €3.7 billion, or 78 per cent of 2019’s expenditure levels.

Besides, a recent report of Turespaña showed that tourism employment rates reached pre-pandemic levels by 99.4 per cent in March.