After a two-year interruption caused by the pandemic, the meetings and events industry is beginning to show signs of recovery all around the world, and now faces a new stage in its development influenced by the trends and lessons learned after Covid-19. In this context, Meliá Hotels International is redefining its value proposition for the MICE segment with a priority objective in mind: to be a strategic partner and facilitator of more sustainable events, a fundamental feature that will be at the forefront of the future development of the industry.

To help achieve this, the company announced at IMEX Frankfurt (the international trade fair for the MICE industry) a pioneering initiative that will allow the carbon footprint of events in its hotels to be measured, reduced and offset. This is a fundamental step in moving towards carbon neutrality, responding to a need that is increasingly in demand among professionals in the MICE industry.

The IMEX event has further confirmed that sustainability continued to gain ground during the pandemic and has now become a priority for event organisers. As explained by José Miguel Moreno, VP Corporate & MICE Sales Strategy at Meliá Hotels International, "our objective is to involve our clients in combatting climate change so that we can move forward together in the decarbonisation of events, so we're really proud to take our first steps towards promoting the sustainable transformation of the MICE industry".

Thanks to a strategic partnership with Creast, a technology company specialising in measuring, reducing and offsetting the environmental impact of events, Meliá will provide MICE clients with a tool that allows the rigorous and traceable calculation of the amount of CO2 generated by each event, taking into account transportation, energy and water use, materials used and waste generated, catering and accommodation services.

These measurements are also vital for detecting opportunities to reduce the carbon footprint and define ambitious and achievable goals. The measurements will also help create an important knowledge base to help define the future structure of more sustainable events and meetings in Meliá hotels, at the same time supporting the company's global objectives to reduce emissions.

In this respect, Meliá will offset the emissions generated by events in its hotels to support its move towards carbon neutrality. As part of the process, a number of verified environmental projects will be selected to be supported by compensation certificates which will be issued for each hotel event.

The project has been piloted at the Palma Convention Centre and its Meliá Palma Bay Hotel, one of the company's top facilities in regard to sustainability. A European pilot project will begin soon at the Meliá Barcelona Sarriá and Meliá Berlin, in which the learning process will be used as the basis for exporting the model to a greater number of MICE hotels throughout the year.​