The commitment to sustainable tourism Barcelona Biosphere Destination bases its methodology on the work around the 17 SDGs and 169 goals of the United Nations 2030 Agenda, with the help of the Responsible Tourism Institute as the creator of the Biosphere system.

Through Biosphere, both the destination and its business network develop personalised sustainability plans, designed ad hoc for each entity based on its typology, reality and resources. The objective is that year after year, the entities participating in the programme work on a process of continuous improvement with which they improve and increase their good practices, mitigating their negative impacts and compensating for those actions that may have a negative impact on the socio-cultural and environmental surroundings, governance, economy, transparency, innovation... To this end, each entity draws up its own corporate sustainability plan, assigning actions and initiatives connected to each of the Sustainable Development Goals and Agenda 2030 targets, monitoring its efforts in real time and highlighting them through a third-party audit process for recognition.

Among the organisations that have received Biosphere certification for the first time are Futbol Club Barcelona, the Barcelona Convention Bureau, the Picasso Museum, the Disseny Hub, the Llotja de Mar and the Palau Güell. In the hospitality sector, NH Hoteles, Hoteles Hesperia, W Barcelona, Majestic Hotel, Hotel Barcelona Princess, Hotel Negresco Princess and Duquesa de Cardona have joined this commitment to sustainability.

These and other entities that received their distinctive for the first time at this ceremony on 22 March at the Centre de Convenions Internacionals de Barcelona (CCIB), receive it as recognition of their first steps in line with the UN Sustainable Development Goals, as part of a process of continuous improvement that will require them to continue working and increasing their good practices to maintain their seals. Of the 403 companies that have been convened in this ceremony, 282 of them have been as renewal of their certifications, putting in value their continuous work during the last years, and other 121 have been initiated in the system, committing to the elaboration and implementation of their sustainability plans aligned with the 2030 Agenda.

More than 50 new companies have shown interest in participating in the project for 2023, which is still accepting new companies through a form on the website www.turismesostenible.barcelona.

This certification does not represent any cost for the company, as it is fully subsidised by the IEET (tourism tax), as well as the renewal in subsequent years.