Sustainability is becoming an increasingly important requirement for the hospitality and tourism industries. Yet for many businesses, a significant gap still exists between commitments made on paper and meaningful changes in day-to-day operations.
Sustainability goes beyond reducing plastic, saving energy, or announcing ESG targets. Long-term value is created only when businesses are able to integrate these principles into business strategy, workforce management, supply chains, guest experiences, and relationships with local communities.
This is also the perspective that Miquel Àngel - Founder of MQL Sustainable & Tourism Services Ltd. - will bring to HORECFEX VIETNAM 2026, Da Nang - Vietnam.
With many years of experience in Southeast Asia, particularly across tourism, hospitality, and sustainability in Vietnam, Miquel has developed a strong understanding of the opportunities and challenges tourism businesses face as they move toward more responsible models of growth.
A key strength of his approach is the connection between environmental, social, and governance objectives and real operational conditions. Rather than treating ESG as a separate framework disconnected from business activities, he focuses on how companies can gradually build models that are appropriate for their resources, markets, and destination characteristics.
Human capital plays a particularly important role in this process. A sustainability strategy is unlikely to succeed if employees do not understand its objectives, lack the necessary capabilities, or fail to see their role in the transformation. For this reason, people development is not only part of ESG, but also a foundation for sustaining meaningful change over the long term.
Miquel Àngel’s session will also broaden the discussion around the role of local communities in tourism development. When businesses create employment opportunities, prioritize local suppliers, and respect the cultural values of a destination, tourism can generate wider benefits instead of focusing solely on visitor growth.
For investors, hotel managers, travel businesses, and human resources teams, this session offers an opportunity to approach ESG from a more practical perspective: where to begin, what to prioritize, and how sustainability goals can be transformed into genuine competitive capabilities.
From Miquel Àngel’s perspective, sustainability is neither a short-term campaign nor simply a communications message. It is a process of building a business that can operate efficiently, adapt over time, and create balanced value for customers, communities, the environment, and the business itself.