Water management is in a key moment due to the effects of climate change and a new paradigm for the sustainable management of this resource is essential.
MAGNUM is Meliá Hotels International, Cetaqua, IDP, and Aquatec's new project aimed at developing a pilot tool capable of tackling the greatest challenges in terms of sustainable water management in the tourism sector. By combining cutting-edge developments in digitisation, water footprinting and behavioural science, it will promote the responsible consu
This innovation project, which will be completed in 2025, is financed with NextGen funds under the RETOS Programme, which is aimed at public-private partnership initiatives to foster the development of scientific knowledge. The objective of this project is to develop a digital twin of the water infrastructure for Meliá's two hotels, creating a virtual replica of the hotel to monitor and analyse data remotely and in real time.
The tool, known as MAGNUM Digital Twin, will respond to the global challenge of monitoring the impact on the environment, and in particular on water resources in the tourism sector. Thus, MAGNUM will enable Meliá hotels to monitor water consumption more efficiently whilst identifying anomalies and improvement areas for the sustainable use of water in hotel infrastructures.
The project will kick off by implementing the solution and digitising its water system in two of its flagship hotels: Gran Meliá Palacio de Isora (Isora, Tenerife) and Meliá Palma Marina (Palma de Mallorca). After on-site testing, it will be rolled out to the rest of the hotels within the Group.
MAGNUM Digital Twin, digitisation in the tourism sector to improve the management of water resources
The system will display the daily water footprint of the properties, differentiating between direct footprint (impacts related to the hotel's direct activities) and indirect (impacts of the products and services purchased by the hotel), as well as among departments. This innovation will make it possible to obtain a water footprint calculation in the most automated way and with the greatest possible detail, solving the challenge of monitoring its environmental impacts continuously.
The digital twin will also enable operational decisions to maximise water efficiency through early detection of anomalies and simulation of scenarios to achieve maximum water savings. Furthermore, the segmentation of the water footprint by departments will make it possible to launch specific awareness-raising campaigns for hotel employees with the greatest potential for improvement, through scientific methods based on behavioural sciences.
Finally, it is also planned to carry out actions to engage Meliá's customers in the care of water resources, combining digital and behavioural tools, and raising awareness on the importance of water.
"The partnership with Meliá for the improvement of water sustainability in the tourism sector enables us to create new digital solutions that integrate valuable knowledge from both the water and hospitality sectors. It is a true demonstration of the applied research developed at Cetaqua, focused on applied solutions that deliver differential value to users and to society by improving water resource management", declares Carlos Montero, Managing Director of Cetaqua.
Meliá, a leading hotel chain in the tourism sector, seeks to strengthen its approach to efficient water management and continue leading the way towards sustainability. "It is our responsibility to seek sustainable innovation solutions to reduce the environmental footprint of our operations and contribute to the conservation of water, a scarce resource in many of the destinations where we operate. This pilot project, involving leading partners in the fields of technology and innovation, is part of this objective".
The partnership between Meliá, Aquatec, IDP and Cetaqua reinforces the importance of cooperation to address current environmental challenges.
