25/09/2026
Spain – from good practices to new ideas
In the first half of the month, we travelled to Spain to explore good practices in cultural, culinary and sports tourism, while also looking for inspiring examples of sustainable development.
Madrid impressed us with its vibrant atmosphere, excellent culinary scene and green spaces, with the Royal Botanic Garden being one of the highlights. 🌴
Our journey then took us to Andalusia, where we also encountered a less appealing side of modern food production – the vast greenhouse areas around Almería, supplying fruit and vegetables to European markets during the winter months.
But another face of Andalusia was much more interesting. The endless “sea of olives” around Jaén. Olive groves here are not only an important part of the local economy, but also an exceptional cultural landscape, deeply connected with the region’s history, way of life and identity. The Cultural Landscape of the Olive Groves of Andalusia is included on UNESCO’s Tentative List of World Heritage. From the spectacular views around Santa Catalina Castle, this remarkable landscape can be seen in all its vastness. 🫒
At the same time, the scale of olive cultivation also raises important questions about monoculture, biodiversity, soil health and long-term sustainability. Preserving the cultural landscape while finding ways to make olive production more diverse, resilient and environmentally responsible is an important challenge for the future.
Along the way, we also had the opportunity to learn more about the organisation and behind-the-scenes operation of one of the world’s major cycling races – La Vuelta a España. Here, sport, tourism, destination promotion and local communities come together in a unique way. 🚴♂️
We returned home with many impressions, new insights and, above all, plenty of new ideas to bring back to our own environment.
Spain reminded us just how many different faces tourism can have – and how important it is to find the right balance between experiences, local identity, economic development and sustainability.
