RIU Hotels & Resorts Shifts Focus to Regenerative Tourism for Positive Community Impact
Catalina Alemany, Director of Sustainability at RIU Group, explained in an interview with Expresso that the concept of sustainable tourism, which aims for zero negative impact, is academically outdated. She stated that all economic activities, including tourism, inevitably cause some negative impacts, such as the environmental footprint of hotel construction. Recognizing this, RIU is moving towards regenerative tourism, an approach designed to create positive impacts for local communities and territories. This strategy positions tourism as a driver for nature conservation, primary sector development, and the promotion of responsible economic activities that might otherwise be difficult for communities to sustain. To guide these efforts, RIU has developed the "Método RIU," an academic methodology developed in collaboration with ESCP Business School, which ensures a structured approach to interventions. This method involves analyzing local community needs and challenges to select and implement projects aligned with RIU's strategic areas: children, health, and the environment. Lola Herrero, Director of the ESCP Business School Chair at RIU, highlighted that this methodology has been refined over nearly a decade to ensure comparable results across all RIU destinations and to measure contributions to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Currently, all RIU operating locations, except for Thailand which opened this year, utilize this method. A key example of regenerative tourism highlighted is the "Consultório Infantil" (Children's Health Clinic) inaugurated on July 21st in Boa Vista, Cabo Verde. This project, integrated into public health services, focuses on preventive medicine and planned child healthcare, aiming to foster a healthier society and better equip the population for future challenges. RIU also emphasizes environmental conservation, particularly in Boa Vista, by raising tourist awareness about protecting natural heritage, such as sea turtles. Cabo Verde is noted as a global leader in sea turtle protection, a fact RIU aims to highlight. The group's sustainability strategy, "Proudly Committed," runs until 2026, with a new strategy planned for 2027-2030 featuring destination-specific work plans. RIU is also preparing a partnership with the United Nations, leveraging the insights from the "Método RIU" to understand local realities.
The RIU Group's strategic pivot from "sustainable" to "regenerative" tourism reflects a pragmatic acknowledgment of the inherent environmental and social costs associated with economic activities. By framing tourism not merely as an impact-minimizer but as a positive contributor, RIU seeks to align its business model with evolving stakeholder expectations and global development goals. The "Método RIU," with its academic grounding and focus on measurable outcomes tied to SDGs, represents an effort to institutionalize corporate social responsibility and ensure accountability across diverse operational contexts. This approach, particularly the investment in public health infrastructure like the Boa Vista Children's Health Clinic, suggests a long-term view of community well-being as a prerequisite for destination resilience and economic stability. The challenge ahead lies in demonstrating tangible, scalable, and equitable positive impacts that genuinely outweigh the unavoidable negative externalities, ensuring that regenerative tourism becomes a systemic driver of development rather than a branding exercise.
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