Carbon neutrality, zero waste and serving seafood solely from responsible suppliers: Many boutique eco-tourism destinations — particularly those catering to small numbers of luxury travelers — can reach or come close to sustainability goals such as these, but what about a decades-old resort company operating 97 properties across 14 countries?
As the global director of sustainability at Iberostar Group, Megan Morikawa is striving to prove that large travel operators can be better stewards of the planet. The Stanford-educated marine biologist is applying science to achieve these goals and more, such as helping the privately held hospitality company build coral research labs and use A.I.-powered trash cans to reduce kitchen waste.
In a nearly two-hour video conversation, Dr. Morikawa talked about her career pivot from academia to hospitality, the importance of collaboration across the travel industry and her new role for the Travel Foundation, a nonprofit providing destinations with sustainable-tourism research, strategy and training.
This conversation has been edited and condensed for clarity.
Basically, the theme of my technical background is how we can use the technology of genetics and genomics to better conserve species on the planet.
My Ph.D. adviser, Stephen Palumbi, was focused on genetics, genomics and coral reefs. His whole proposition was: Could we find the world’s toughest corals, learn what makes them tough and use that to help predict winners and losers of climate change, so that managers could better understand how to restore reefs?
It was at the end of my Ph.D. when at Stanford I met Gloria Fluxá Thienemann, Iberostar’s vice chairman and chief sustainability officer. My adviser and I were scratching our heads asking, “What does a Spanish hotel owner have in terms of interest in our research?”
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Last spring, my wife and I embarked on an extended family holiday through Spain, taking our two young children on a month-long road trip around a country we didn’t know well but quickly came to love, for its ancient walled cities and diverse landscapes, its full-bodied wine and its warm-hearted people.
In a rebound of international travel, over 1.5 million Chinese citizens embarked on outbound trips during the recent Golden Week holiday, marketing technology firm China Trading Desk told Skift.
Along the promenade come the crowds: drag queens spouting one-liners, farmers gossiping in Welsh, a choir out of rehearsal but still singing, and a man who raps to himself and the heavens. There seem to be as many dogs as humans, and twice as many gulls, all eyeing the fish and chips. The funicular railway up the cliff has a queue of Hasidic Jewish families clutching ice-creams, and the pier is packed with good-humoured Brummies enjoying the snooker tables and push-penny machines, waiting for the nightclub, Pier Pressure, to open. By the ruined castle a party of Australian fans of TV crime series Hinterland are gazing around in bemusement: is this really a gritty murder capital? Behind the town rise the mountains of mid-Wales; out front is the sparkling sea. This is Aberystwyth on a sunny afternoon.
Hundreds of new flights will serve the European Arctic region this year, collectively offering tens of thousands of additional seats. In recent weeks, major airlines from across the continent have announced a flurry of routes to destinations deep within the Arctic Circle.
Europe, the world’s fastest-warming continent, is headed for another scorching summer, meteorologists warn. And travelers, once again, are heading to the hot spots.
Readiness and data insights to deal with climate change effects and its impact in destinations’ perception can make a difference when designing and executing promotional strategies, to ensure travellers’ expectation do not fall far from the actual experience. This is one of the main arguments Mabrian, the global travel intelligence company, brought to the Resilience Council panel, held during the latest edition of Arabian Travel Market.