Earlier this year, TUI Group, TUI Care Foundation and the government of the Region of the Southern Aegean launched the ‘Rhodes Co-Lab’ project. The aim of the project is to develop Rhodes into an international beacon for sustainable development of holiday destinations. The local tourism industry and international partners will work alongside the Co-Lab to find concrete decisions and implement them on Rhodes. In addition, a think tank is being developed in Rhodes bringing together international experts to strengthen and further develop the sustainability of the tourism sector.
After launching the Co-Lab at the beginning of the year, with the support of PwC Greece, the strategy phase began. An extensive piece of desk research looked at the best places in the world, various frameworks, the application of Sustainable Development Goals in tourism, current plans for sustainability and how this interlinks with the Rhodes Co-Lab concept. A variety of stakeholders have been interviewed to understand their perspectives, interests and expectations of the project.
A stakeholder event took place in Rhodes this month which was a great milestone of the Co-Lab project. This is where work will be presented, they will get further input from stakeholders and get the next phase of the project in motion. In the next coming months, a local team in Rhodes will be established.
The Co-Lab launched this spring and TUI’s CEO Fritz Joussen and Thomas Ellerbeck, Chief Sustainability Officer of TUI and Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the TUI Care Foundation met the Greek Prime Minister in Athens. Together they discussed the role of the Rhodes Co-Lab for the international and Greek tourism industry.
