.png)
Madrid, 19 January 2025. Iberostar Hotels & Resorts, Circle Economy and UN Tourism today present the report ‘Towards circular hospitality: Transforming the tourism system’. This document examines the challenges facing the hotel industry in the face of growing resource scarcity. Aimed at fostering collective conversation with key actors in each destination, this report highlights circular economy opportunities and strategies that enable competitiveness, improved efficiency and more responsible operations in the mid- to long-term.
It is estimated that tourist accommodation is responsible for 260 million tonnes of CO2 emissions per year1, a figure almost as high as the annual emissions of the whole of France. With around 70% of these emissions2 coming from the production, transport and disposal of the goods and services on which hotels depend, and which guests consume, purchasing and operational decisions can transform entire supply chains. Different circular economy strategies — such as reverse logistics or prioritising repair and reuse over disposal — are crucial to reducing the sector's impact.
Hotels face multiple individual and systemic barriers. The report identifies ten key challenges, including: the lack of adequate recycling infrastructure in many tourist destinations, which means that waste separation in hotels does not reach its full potential; behavioural barriers, such as cultural change in behaviour in relation to climate change; the absence of a shared vision of circularity in the hospitality industry, which makes it difficult for sustainable solutions to scale beyond individual hotels or chains.
In a context of systemic challenges, individual initiatives can help demonstrate what is possible and offer practical benchmarks for other actors in the value chain. The report draws on the experience of Iberostar, a hotel group with more than 100 hotels in 14 countries, to illustrate how some of these challenges are being addressed in day-to-day operations.
Iberostar's approach to circularity combines people, data and innovation. Driven by purpose and with commitment from leadership, the company has created teams dedicated to the 3Rs, with more than 250 professionals focused on waste separation, measurement and analysis. At the same time, it uses artificial intelligence tools in the kitchens of more than 60 hotels to monitor and reduce food waste, helping to better understand where losses occur and how they can be avoided.
In addition, efforts are being made to integrate circularity into purchasing decisions, hotel design, and the guest and employee experience, as well as daily operations. Together, these measures have contributed to a reduction of more than 80% in waste sent to landfill since 2021.
However, their experience also shows that progress requires support of actors, local infrastructure, policies and partnerships and that systemic circularity cannot be achieved through the individual actions of stakeholders across the value chain.
Built from insights and sectoral workshops, the white paper identifies five strategic areas for moving towards a circular economy:
Gloria Fluxà Thienemann, Vice-Chairman & Chief Sustainability Officer at Grupo Iberostar, explains: Four years ago we embarked on an ambitious journey to reduce the waste we send to landfill and bring circularity into our operations. Not as a standalone project, but as a fundamental shift in how we run our business. It meant aligning internal strategic priorities, business objectives and incentives - we believe this is how systems change begins — not with one big decision, but with thousands of small choices aligned in the same direction. The transition to a circular hotel industry will require going beyond individual efforts and committing to collaborative actions in different areas to implement systemic change. Only in this way can we scale positive impact while strengthening the competitiveness and future of our sector.
H.E. Ms Shaikha N. Alnuwais,Secretary - General at UN Tourism outlines: The hospitality industry plays a central role within the tourism value chain and influences how destinations manage resources, reduce waste, measure impact, strengthen local economies and respond to growing climate, environmental and supply-chain pressures. Advancing circular and regenerative practices is not only an environmental priority, but a strategic pathway to resilience, climate action, competitiveness and long-term value creation. We hope that the white paper will inspire change, and provide useful guidance for policymakers, businesses and destination stakeholders seeking to advance a more circular and resilient tourism future.
Claudia Alessio, circularity expert and author for Circular Economy, adds: The circular economy is not just an environmental necessity, it is a means to an end. It strengthens business resilience by recognising that hospitality depends on healthy natural and social capital. It is a powerful tool for climate change mitigation and adaptation, and promotes the well-being of destinations by helping them operate within their carrying capacity. The framework we present is designed for use by the entire value chain, providing the sector with a common direction to move forward together.
