The World Tourism Organization – the United Nations body responsible for fostering responsible, sustainable and universally accessible tourism – yesterday closed its 42nd Affiliate Members Plenary Session, held at the Four Seasons Hotel in Madrid, with a recognition awards ceremony for initiatives that have contributed to curtailing the impact of COVID-19 in the sector and encouraging the reactivation of tourism in recent months. CaixaBank, the benchmark financial institution in the tourism sector and first European bank to be an affiliate member of the World Tourism Organization, has received one of these acknowledgements for its support and contribution to the tourism sector. The organisation has acknowledged the company's high level of specialisation in the field of tourism, which has allowed it to support and meet the specific needs of the sector.
The financial institution substantiates its support for the sector through its Hotels & Tourism line of business, the purpose of which is to boost the tourism market through a model of proximity and specialisation with hotelier companies and businesses. This specialisation and knowledge of the tourism field has enabled CaixaBank, in this last year, to offer specific support measures for its customers from the tourism sector, including the granting of liquidity facilities, and a moratorium and grace period on mortgage payments, with the objective of enabling companies to maintain maximum liquidity.
With this recognition, CaixaBank, chaired by Jordi Gual and with Gonzalo Gortázar as CEO, reasserts its commitment to continuing to play a key role in helping the Spanish economy to recover as soon as possible by granting loans and meeting the specific needs of this key Spanish sector.
Specialised products for the tourism sector
CaixaBank Hotels & Tourism provides the hotel market with a differential and specialised product and service offering to help companies optimise the profitability of their businesses and simplify their daily activities, taking into account the needs of different subsectors: hotels, tourist accommodation and campsites.
CaixaBank's Hotels & Tourism business line includes specific products and financing adapted to suit hotel projects and other tourist accommodation. Besides advising customers on their investments and fostering the modernisation of existing hotels, CaixaBank promotes financing for purchasing hotel assets and financing new construction projects, both in the urban sector and in the holiday industry.
The bank also champions responsible and sustainable financing as one of its priority lines of action in the area of socially responsible banking. In this regard, CaixaBank Hotels & Tourism is particularly interested in projects that contribute to environmental sustainability and social inclusion, such as those that incorporate energy efficiency or water management improvements, or those that promote the employment of people at risk of exclusion.
In this context, CaixaBank stands out due to its responsible actions and this is acknowledged by the main international organisations. The Dow Jones Sustainability World Index ranks it among the best banks in the world in terms of corporate responsibility. CaixaBank, through its scale and social commitment, contributes to all the SDGs through its business, social projects and strategic partnerships. In fact, the company features the 17 SDGs of the United Nations in its Strategic Plan and Socially Responsible Plan, and contributes to all of them in a cross-disciplinary manner. Specifically, CaixaBank Hotels & Tourism contributes in particular to SDG 11 – Sustainable cities and communities.
CaixaBank Hotels & Tourism serves 9,500 customers from the tourist accommodation sector and is established as a key player for this business segment with the ability to detect and meet the needs of the sector, supporting it through the customised services it requires, operated by a team of 30 specialists in the hotel market and over 1,200 CaixaBank Business advisers.
About the UNWTO
The World Tourism Organization is the United Nations body responsible for fostering responsible, sustainable and universally accessible tourism. As the leading international organisation in field of tourism, the UNWTO advocates tourism that contributes to economic growth, inclusive development and environmental sustainability, and it offers leadership and support to the sector to spread its knowledge and tourist policies throughout the world.
The UNWTO advocates the application of the Global Code of Ethics for Tourism to maximise the socioeconomic contribution of the sector, while simultaneously minimising its possible detrimental impacts, and it has committed to promoting tourism as an instrument to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (ODS), intended to reduce poverty and promote sustainable development all around the world.
The organisation also generates market knowledge, fosters competitive tourism and sustainable policies and instruments, teaching and training tourism and it works to make tourism an efficient tool for development, through technical support projects in more than 100 countries worldwide.
Its members feature 158 countries, 6 associate members and upwards of 500 Affiliate Members that represent the private sector, educational institutions, tourism associations and local tourist boards.
