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How much tourism can a place sustain before it starts to lose the very things that make it attractive? This question, which guides much of our work, was also central to the discussion at elDiario.es’s fifth Tourism Forum, “A Nation of Tourism V: Leading the Way Responsibly”, held in Madrid on 22 April 2026.
Marco Mendoza, CEO of TrueWorld and President of the Love The Mediterranean Foundation, joined the panel “A commitment to the environment: protecting tourism destinations”. Fellow panellists included Ilona Shekyants, Deputy Director-General for Tourism Policy at the Ministry of Industry and Tourism; Amanda Guzmán, Managing Director of the Ecotourism Association in Spain; and Pablo Lorenzo, Corporate Sustainability Director at Lopesan Hotel Group. The discussion was moderated by Gonzalo Cortizo, Editor of elDiario.es Galicia.
A figure that changes the conversation
One of the panel’s most striking moments came when Marco shared a figure: three days before the discussion, with May still ahead, Mallorca had already exceeded its ecological carrying capacity by a factor of 17.6.
This is precisely the kind of information we believe should be publicly available. Without reliable, open data on the actual impact of tourism, sustainability strategies amount to little more than good intentions. Measurement is the first step towards effective management, and acting in time is essential to protecting a destination.
Bringing science, tourism and social action aboard
Marco presented the approach we are developing through Love The Mediterranean: electric vessels that bring people closer to the sea while monitoring its health. Our fully electric sail training vessel, Galaxie, is a prime example of how science, tourism and social action can come together.
He also challenged traditional tour operator models that repeat familiar patterns to secure revenue without responding to local needs or environmental change. In Marco’s view, the future of tourism will be shaped by two concepts: value and risk. He warned that nature is demanding change far faster than we can introduce regulations and put them into practice.
Letting science guide decisions
Marco closed with a clear analogy: just as we consult a cardiologist about a heart condition, we should rely on scientific expertise, backed by political action, to manage the planet’s resources responsibly. As he stressed, meeting this challenge will require us to work together effectively.
At TrueWorld, we share the optimism of organisations such as Lopesan and the Ecotourism Association, whose work shows that a different approach to tourism is possible. Our contribution is to put technology and data at the service of that change, through our public climate change observatory and projects such as Galaxie.
Thank you to elDiario.es for the invitation and to our fellow panellists for a much-needed discussion.
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