USTOA will hold the fourth USTOA Sustainability is Responsibility (SIR) 4.0 Summit in Valencia, Spain from April 27 - 30, 2025. In partnership with the Region of Valencia Tourism Board and Turespaña, USTOA invites its Active and Associate Members to the summit to foster collaborations, participate in cross-sector learning, and continue to set the path for a more responsible future for the travel industry.
The summit will bring member representatives from across the travel industry value chain together for interactive dialogue, educational content, and case study learnings. Our first SIR summit in 2022 focused on the "why" part of creating a sustainability business case, the 2023 SIR summit, in collaboration with Tourism Cares, focused on the "how", and the 2024 SIR summit focused on you, our members. The 2025 SIR summit will continue on that path as it seeks to address sustainability goals in our industry and establish tangible best practices to help you move forward in your individual sustainability journeys. To learn more about past USTOA SIR summits, please take review the SIR 1.0 Summit Executive Report and the SIR 3.0 Summit Executive Report.
As the state of our world evolves, so does the focus of our SIR Community, as it continuously changes due to our members' passion to advance their own sustainability strategies. With this change comes a new set of challenges that our members face, driving us to once again base the SIR summit around a fresh set of focus areas.
Key learning objectives of the USTOA SIR 4.0 summit will be (subject to change):
-Climate change: addressing natural disasters that impact tourism and the livelihood of residents.
-Reimagination of product: creating curated experiences in a responsible manner.
-Partnerships: the importance of private, public, and cross-association collaboration.
-Failures: why we experience them and how to overcome them.
-Overtourism: how to address it and the importance of working with destinations.
PRELIMINARY SUMMIT PROGRAM
Sunday, April 27, 2025
-Arrival day
-Pptional evening welcome dinner at the hotel from 8:00pm - 10:00pm
Monday, April 28, 2025
-Keynote opening session at the hotel
-City of Valencia sustainability tour
-Lunch at Llisa Negra
-Educational sessions and workshops at the hotel
-Drinks at the Valencia Port
-Dinner at Casa Montana
Tuesday, April 29, 2025
-Day trip to Albufera Natural park with case study tour
-Paella workshop lunch
-Educational sessions and workshops
-Dinner at Villa Indiano
Wednesday, April 30, 2025
-Wrap-up learning session at the City of Arts and Sciences
-Optional farewell lunch Contrapunto at the City of Arts and Sciences
-The summit programming will end at 1:30pm this day
A more detailed itinerary will be provided soon.
Expressions of interest in attending are open to both USTOA Active and Associate Members with a focus on those who play a role in sustainability and DEI initiatives at their companies. This event is designed to bring together a cross-functional representation of the travel industry with the intention of assembling a diverse, comprehensive group to create meaningful outputs not just for those participating, but also the industry at large. The registration link and more information on the program can be found below.
The deadline to register is January 31, 2025.
OFFICIAL PARTNERS:
Destination:
