The Meeting of the Seas, a congress organised by VOCENTO Gastronomía and the Regional Government of Andalusia as institutional sponsor, will be held from 5 to 7 July in Sevilla, Cádiz and Marbella, with a new sustainable partner this year, the Iberostar Group. Operating in 35 countries with 80% of hotels on the sea front, the Spanish hotel group has taken the plunge in terms of environmental management with its innovative pioneer movement Wave of Change, which seeks to “encourage a new kind of responsible tourism by protecting the environment, and most especially our oceans”, explains Soraya Romero, Global Head of Engagement & Diversity of the Spanish multinational, who will form part of the panel of speakers at this year’s congress.

To date, the Wave of Change movement rolled out by Iberostar – which now employs more than 20 biologists and scientists specialising in public health at tourist resorts – has, for example, opened a laboratory and a coral nursery and a laboratory in the Dominican Republic to boost research into coastal health, making Iberostar the first hotel group in Spain and the fourth in Europe to be awarded the Sustainable Fish Chain of Custody certificate. 

The Iberostar Group has teamed up with science, making the circular economy the focus of its strategy as a key factor in environmental protection. Among other measures, the Iberostar Group has drawn up a roadmap thanks to which, among other milestones in 2020, the group achieved its goal of eliminating single-use plastic from all its global operations, and is continuing towards its objective of being waste-free by 2025, and a carbon-neutral business by 2030.

With sustainability as the main driver and key component of business, among the movement’s activities, the hotel group also has a strategy to improve the health of all the ecosystems around its facilities, as 80% of Iberostar hotels are located on the sea front, and to encourage responsible consumption of fish and seafood, thus creating a responsible and environment-friendly kind of tourism.

In 2020, despite the challenges that were and still are posed by the world pandemic, the chain continued this trajectory undaunted, and not only did it achieve its goal of eliminating all single-use plastic, but also worked alongside institutions such as the WTO, the World Economic Forum or One Planet to deploy the How We Care programme, which features more than 300 health safety measures in keeping with the Group’s circularity policies implemented by the Wave of Change movement.
 
3rd Meeting of the Seas

From 5 to 7 July 2021, Meeting of the Seas, the international congress forging links between gastronomy, marine sciences and the fishing sector, will again bring together oceanographers, marine biologists, researchers, cooks and major players in the fishing industry to discuss the current and future situation of the oceans. This year marine reforestation will be the main theme of the third round of an event that has returned in a face-to-face format in Sevilla, the province of Cádiz (Sanlúcar de Barrameda, Chiclana, Puerto de Santa María and Jerez) and Marbella. It can also be accessed free of charge on Internet, following registration on the event’s website.

Participants includes the scientists Carlos Duarte, Professor of Research at Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah University of Science and Technology; Karen McGlathery, Director of the University of Virginia’s Environmental Resilience Institute; Atsushi Watanabe, Chief Researcher in Oceanic Policies at the Sakasawa Peace Foundation in Japan; Susana Agustí, biologist and expert in marine microalgae; Alexandra Cousteau, President and co-founder of Oceans 2050, and Juan Luis Gómez Pinchetti, Director of the Spanish Algae Bank.

Nor are the most sea-committed chefs prepared to miss out on the event. Spaniards Pepe Solla (Casa Solla*, Pontevedra), Albert Raurich (Dos palillos*, Barcelona), Juanlu Fernández (LÚ cocina y alma*, Jerez), Aitor Arregi (Elkano*, Getaria), Benito Gómez (Bardal**, Ronda) and Dani Carnero (La Cosmopolita, Málaga), will be accompanied by Pedro Miguel Schiaffino, the first Peruvian chef who travelled to Amazonia to work with its produce, Giuseppe Iannotti (Krésios*, Talese Terme, Campania, Italy) and João Rodrigues (Feitoria*, Lisbon, Portugal).

About the Iberostar Group

The Iberostar Group is a 100% family-run Spanish multinational with a trajectory of over 60 years in tourism, and corporate origins dating back to 1877. Its main business is Iberostar Hotels & Resorts, a portfolio with more than 100 4-star and 5-star hotels in 16 countries. The Group has transformed itself into an international benchmark through its support of a more responsible tourism business model which cares about people and the environment. The Wave of Change movement demonstrates the company’s specific commitment to the environment and the oceans, and the desire to share this with society at large.

With sustainability as the main driver and key component of business, the company has made the circular economy the focus of its strategy, and operates its own Agenda 2030 in a bid to be waste-free by 2025, carbon-neutral by 2030, and 100% responsible in terms of its sea produce supply chain by 2025, and also to improve the health of ecosystems around its facilities, among other goals.

The Group has a global team of more than 34,500 people of 91 nationalities. This talent makes the company a quality leader, and it strives to make a difference to the customer experience through constant innovation of its products and a digital focus. More information at iberostar.com