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Kratons, new MICE travel agency committed to sustainability

Kratons, new MICE travel agency committed to sustainability

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The founding partners of Kratons, Patricia Gonz and Jorge G. Marqués, decided to join forces during the pandemic and combine their different expertise. Their mission is to "create unique responsible tourism experiences for individuals and companies: personalized and unique luxury travel, sustainable MICE events in unusual places, etc.". They also offer advice on responsible tourism. We spoke with them to find out exactly how they implement sustainability in an event. By Paula Rey

Two founding partners

Patricia comes from the world of tourism, to which she has been dedicated for more than 20 years. “In her career she has held leadership roles for award-winning tour operators.” Jorge’s profile is a bit more atypical in the sector as he comes from the world of science and technology.

Given the current post-pandemic climate so far the company has decided to keep the team small and call on a variety of professionals as needed. These professionals include bloggers, digital marketing experts, etc. Although the team, they tell us, will be expanded in the coming months “thanks to the great reception that the project is having, the idea is to moderate the growth of the company in order to continue creating limited edition experiences.”

Unique responsible tourism experiences

“The main services we offer include design and implementation of customized travel itineraries, focusing on unique and authentic luxury travel; complete organization of sustainable MICE events in unusual locations; and responsible tourism consulting,” they explain. In short, they operate as a MICE and DMC travel agency.

How is sustainability integrated?

First of all, they tell us that Kratons adopts the UN sustainability goals and makes them their own: “for us sustainability is an integral concept that includes things like environmental respect but also fair working conditions or gender equality”. They assure us to be operating with small local suppliers, placing great importance on collaboration with other entities that have aligned values.

“For example, we try to create the events in unique areas away from the most crowded places. We also suggest that when possible, the event takes place in the off-season. Obviously, we propose that attendees travel by more respectful means such as buses, electric cars or train. And, in addition, recycling and zero-kilometer products are a must in our events. We also look for activities in harmony with local communities and responsible accommodations, for example, some that collaborate with associations of workers as housekeepers (commonly called the Kellies).”

Some examples: “In our last events we have had bananas from La Palma distributed among the attendees, in order to contribute to the disaster caused by the volcano. And we have also collaborated with different agricultural cooperatives in La Mancha to buy their products to alleviate the effects of the Filomena winter storm. And when a more respectful event cannot be conceived, we manage the compensation of the carbon footprint in local projects, which does not mean planting trees in places where they are not needed but reforesting devastated areas or contributing to social projects”.

 

 

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