Projects and Initiatives at a Glance

Here some examples:

Against Food Waste – Savour with a Clear Conscience

The Sentido Asterias Beach Resort in Rhodes, involved in a Futouris project, illustrates how food waste can be avoided. Since 2018, DER Touristik has been extending the successful concept developed there, including the corresponding staff training, to other hotels. The target of the DTHR is ambitious: in the future, European hotels are to save 15 percent of annual food waste. In addition to avoiding food waste, the proportion of regional food is to be increased to 70 percent. In the future, holiday guests will be able to enjoy a sustainable range of culinary products with a clean conscience.

Avoid Plastic – Protect the Environment – Holidays without Plastic on the Balearic Islands

Plastic waste pollutes the environment. It pollutes landscapes, beaches and oceans – not a good advertisement for a region. Since the tourism industry is directly affected, it is high time that we combat it and limit the amount of plastic in holiday regions!

Several DER Touristik Hotels & Resorts demonstrate how plastic reduction can look in practice. A good example is the Cala D’Or Gardens Hotel in Mallorca, which also participates in the Futouris project “Plastic-free holidays on the Balearic Islands”.

A number of measures ensured a considerable reduction in plastic waste:

• In gastronomy:
  • elimination of plastic straws (350,000 were still used in the hotel in 2018)
  • Water dispensers with paper and reusable cups in the bar areas (saves 800,000 disposable plastic cups each year)
  • Disposable plastic cutlery, crockery and lunch boxes banned
• In the rooms:
  • refillable dispensers for soap, shampoo and shower gel
  • Dispensing with disposable toothbrush cups and plastic toilet bands
  • Waste bags only in toilet waste bins
• In the hotel:
  • significant reduction in plastic packaging of delivered goods, which accounts for a large proportion of plastic waste in hotels.

Animal welfare

The Aegean Marine Life Sanctuary Project on Lipsi Island in Greece is dedicated to the protection of marine mammals. Dolphins, seals and turtles previously kept in captivity become acquainted with species-appropriate habitats for the first time in this new and unique marine sanctuary. Injured or stranded animals from the wild receive medical assistance.

Given that a return to the wild is often no longer possible, the animals can spend their “retirement” in the natural surroundings of a demarcated sanctuary on the island coast. The target of the project, funded by the DER Touristik Foundation since 2019, is not only to protect and conserve marine mammals but also to raise awareness of animal welfare, for example through educational programmes for the local population and tourists.