PUERTO NATALES, April 16, 2026. A call to build the tourism of the future as a community marked the “Sustainability in Action 2026” event, held this Thursday by Las Torres Patagonia at the Cormorán Event Center in Las Rocas. The event attracted more than a hundred attendees, including regional officials, tourism companies, and local community representatives.
The event featured international experts such as Zornitza Aguilar, Senior Officer for Protected and Conserved Areas at the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), and Nina Boys, Vice President of Sustainability at Beyond Green & Preferred Travel Group.
Both shared their experiences on how destinations in other parts of the world are being managed and how those lessons can be applied to the Magallanes Region.
Lorena Arriagada, General Manager of the Chilean Association of Tourism Companies (ACHET), moderated the panel discussion titled “Learning Together to Continue Protecting Torres del Paine,” which discussed how stakeholders can work together to preserve this tourist destination.
In his opening remarks, Josian Yaksic, CEO of Las Torres Patagonia, discussed the challenges of collaborative progress in the tourism sector. “It’s hard to make progress today if everyone is working alone. In our experience, many things don’t work out the first time around, and that’s where we learn. If that isn’t taken into account at the local level, the strategy will be meaningless,” he said.
John Ojeda, Sustainability Manager at Las Torres Patagonia, took stock of efforts made in 2025, noting that making the leap from talk to action on the ground has been key.
“This forum is about sharing what we’re learning, not about showing that we have all the answers. The challenge is to translate this learning into concrete actions, rather than just having good intentions,” Ojeda said.
In closing, it was emphasized that the success of sustainability in fragile destinations such as Torres del Paine depends on being able to learn in the field and to adopt a vision in which caring for the environment is, above all, a shared responsibility.
The event was sponsored by CORFO, the Chilean Association of Tourism Companies (ACHET), and Patagonia Chile.
Leading global players
The event featured the participation of the IUCN, the world’s largest environmental network, which has been safeguarding the integrity of nature through scientific standards since 1948. Beyond Green, for its part, is a global leader in regenerative hospitality and has developed more than 50 indicators aligned with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
In 2026, Las Torres Patagonia was nominated as South America’s Leading Green Hotel at the World Travel Awards for the fourth year in a row. This recognition, along with the recent Gold Award at the WTM Latin America Responsible Tourism Awards, validates its active conservation model for the protection and restoration of the ecosystems within Torres del Paine National Park.