The City Council of Roses held the signing ceremony of the Commitment Charter as a Biosphere Destination at the Municipal Theater of Roses; a document that adheres the municipality to this international program, thanks to funding received from the Next Generation funds, emphasizing responsibility, awareness, and the advocacy of sustainability as fundamental pillars in the destination’s management.
With the presence of business owners and professionals from the tourism sector in Roses, the mayor of the municipality, Josep Maria Martínez Chinchilla, and Francesc Vila Albet, vice president of the Institute of Responsible Tourism (ITR), signed the Commitment Charter, accrediting the town council’s commitment to the continuous improvement of the town's tourism model in terms of sustainability. This initiates a process that will culminate in the establishment of protocols and action plans aimed at environmental, sociocultural, and economic improvement to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
After the signing ceremony, the sector representatives attending the Municipal Theater participated in an initial presentation by the Councilor for Tourism of Roses, Fèlix Llorens, the Head of the Tourism Unit of the City Council, Sara Lladó, and the authorized consultant for Biosphere, Anna Carbonell. In this presentation, the project and the benefits of this continuous improvement system for local businesses were explained, as well as an on-site training session presenting the Biosphere digital platform and its methodology so that the business community can create, manage, and recognize their sustainability plans, with the certification of their best practices contributing to the 17 Sustainable Development Goals.
The objective of the destination with the adoption of this seal is to contribute to economic growth that promotes sustainable and responsible tourism services. Therefore, the program also opens to the participation of the private sector, involving tourism companies and related sectors to offer them the opportunity to participate in the program, allowing them to also be certified with the Biosphere distinction.
This signing of the commitment charter initiates a process that will include an initial evaluation and diagnosis of the tourism services in Roses, followed by the establishment of the necessary quality and sustainability objectives for the destination, and the implementation of improvement plans that should culminate in the achievement of the Biosphere distinction, certifying the good practices of the destination and the adhered companies in terms of sustainable tourism.
Once the Biosphere Certification as a destination committed to sustainability is obtained, Roses will have to work annually on its action plan to pass audits that certify the destination not only remains committed but also continuously improves towards sustainable tourism in the territory.
This action is part of the project "THE TOURISM TRANSFORMATION OF ROSES - REGENERATION TOURISM ROSES" by the City Council of Roses, co-financed through Next Generation EU funds, specifically within the Tourism Sustainability Plans in Destinations (PSTD) program, grants aimed at digital transformation and modernization of local entities' administrations, extraordinary call 2021, promoted by the Ministry of Industry and Tourism.
