The initiative has more than 300,000 euros in grants for companies, 247,000 for travel agencies and 65,000 for accommodation and restaurants.

The deadline to apply for the grants opened today, Monday 11 July, until 30 September, and they will be granted in order of application.

The Clúster Turismo de Galicia has presented a new initiative to promote sustainable tourism in Galicia and make the destination a benchmark in this field at national and international level. With this objective, and with the funding and support of the Xunta de Galicia through an agreement signed between the Axencia Turismo de Galicia and the cluster, a new tourism product club has been created under the name of Galicia Destino Sostible and with the aim of acting as a hub that integrates the entire sustainable tourism offer of the autonomous community. The new product club Galicia Destino Sostible is also linked to a sponsorship programme that provides the Galician tourism sector with 312,000 euros in aid to compensate for the efforts made so far in this area and to encourage companies to create new sustainable tourism products.

With an international focus, Galicia Destino Sostible will connect tourists and companies through its website (www.galiciadestinosostible.com), facilitating access to the entire sustainable tourism offer in Galicia and acting as a guarantee, not only of sustainability, but also of quality.

Any Galician company belonging to the subsectors categorised as accommodation, restaurants, travel agencies and complementary tourism providers that meet the requirements can join the new product club. Companies that already have an official sustainability certification (S of the ICTE, Biosphere, Green Key, Eu Ecolabel, Green Globe21, Travellife, Rainforest Alliance Certified, Estrella Verde da Guía MICHELIN, etc.) or an environmental certification (ISO 14000, EMAS, etc.) may join the club directly, as these are considered qualifying requirements. Companies that do not have any of these certifications can also join the club as long as they comply with 100% of the mandatory requirements and at least 33% of those considered assessable.

Among the advantages of belonging to the new product club, as well as others such as promotion, training and networking, is access to funding aimed at promoting the creation of new sustainable tourism products in Galicia. This financial aid will be granted by the cluster to the first companies to join the Galicia Destino Sostible club, as requests will be dealt with in strict order of application and will be formalised by signing a sponsorship contract.

Wholesale travel agencies will be eligible for a grant of up to 135,000 euros, which will be distributed among a maximum of 15 agencies with an amount of 3,000 euros for each new sustainable product created, limiting to a maximum of 3 the products financed by each agency in order to distribute the allocation among the largest possible number of companies. Similarly, 28 retail travel agencies will be eligible for 112,000 euros, 2,000 euros for each new sustainable product created, limiting the number of products created by each agency to a maximum of 2. The aid for the other sub-sectors – accommodation, restaurants and complementary offer providers – will be up to 65,000 euros and will be distributed among a maximum of 50 companies that will be eligible for 1,300 euros of funding for each new sustainable product created, with a limit of one product per company. The deadline for applying for aid is set between 11 July and 30 September 2022 and, in the event that the maximum established for any of the categories is not covered, the amounts will be redistributed among the other sub-sectors.

Galicia Destino Sostible will help the Galician tourism sector to move towards a new tourism model more aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals of the 2030 Agenda and to value its commitment to Galicia, promoting the social and economic development of the region and respecting and encouraging the culture and tradition of the area and its people; its commitment to the environment, protecting the biodiversity of the territory, combating climate change and minimising the impact of its activities; and its commitment to good governance, adopting good practices that guarantee inclusion, transparency and competitiveness in companies.

The presentation of Galicia Destino Sostible took place this morning in O Grove, in the restaurant Culler de Pau, holder of two Michelin Stars and one Green Star -also awarded by the Michelin Guide-. It has been conducted by Mar Rodríguez, director of the agency Tee Travel and member of the advisory board of the Clúster Turismo de Galicia, and has counted with the participation of the chef Javier Olleros, owner of the restaurant, Cesáreo Pardal, president of the Cluster Turismo de Galicia, José Ramón Bauzá, MEP and member of the Committee on Transport and Tourism in the European Parliament, and Alfonso Rueda, president of the Xunta de Galicia, among other authorities and relevant agents in the sector.

“Tourists, who are increasingly concerned about climate change and the footprint of their actions on the planet, are demanding a new, more sustainable model of tourism, and as a sector we must move in this direction in order to respond to these demands. It is also the only way to guarantee the future of tourism and the sector,” explains Cesáreo Pardal, president of the Galician Tourism Cluster. “Our tourism offer fits organically with the attributes of sustainability demanded by travellers. Galicia’s commitment to sustainability is not something new, and now, with the creation of Galicia Destino Sostible we reinforce, through public-private collaboration, sustainability as a central axis of the tourism strategy for Galicia”, adds Cesáreo Pardal.

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