Speaking to TTG during Spain’s inaugural Sustainability Day on Wednesday (26 April), Miguel Sanz said countries need to be consistent around sustainable tourism standards for "everyone’s benefit". 

"Tourism happens internationally, across borders, from country-to-country, continent-to-continent, and I think this an area where we have to collaborate in a way where maybe we haven’t collaborated before in the international sphere," he said.

"It’s like when the pandemic restrictions came, and every country had its own set of rules, which complicated the return to normality and the possibility of travel during the pandemic because of a lack of harmonisation and coordination."

Sanz said European countries are working together to set common sustainability standards under the European Travel Commission (ETC) to help consumers make informed decisions when it comes to holidays.

Being the "world’s favourite destination", he continued, Spain should be "leading the way" when it comes to tourism’s decarbonisation journey. 

"For example, everyone would be surprised if say, Germany wasn’t leading the way in innovation in the car industry, being one of the biggest economies for vehicle manufacturing," he added.

In 2019, Spain saw 83 million international visitors, and Sanz believes tourist levels will near – if not surpass – that figure by the end of 2023.

UK tourists spent 4% more in Spain in the first two months of 2023 than they did in 2019, he added. 

"There is a market for sustainable products. Local produce and gastronomy have a value in themselves, and tourists are starting to see that worth more often."

Spain, Sanz added, now prefers to measure on value of tourists, and the number of jobs they are generating, rather than number of tourists coming in.