The Minister of Industry, Trade and Tourism, Reyes Maroto, announced during her speech at the Tourism Innovation Summit 2020 held in Seville that a technological platform called 'SMARTUR' will soon be launched, which will improve the management of the 'Smart Tourist Destinations' program , its network of members and the processes of diagnosis and monitoring of the projects.

The minister has also advanced that on December 2, "DATAESTUR" will be launched, a website that will collect basic data on tourism in Spain and from where it will be possible to access the different tourist statistical sources mainly from public and private organizations. All this information will allow the creation of a new knowledge model that will be reflected in the Tourist Intelligence Observatory.

Maroto recalled that “the pandemic has accelerated the digitization process of our tourism model with an increasingly connected and multi-channel tourist. Tourist destinations have to be the protagonists of this digital transformation. At this time it is necessary to address the transformative process that the Spanish tourism model needs and the TIS is an excellent showcase to present the latest technologies, solutions, innovations, models and trends that are revolutionizing the tourism sector ”.

According to the minister, the government's priority is to turn the double digital and ecological transition into an opportunity to continue being the most competitive country in the world in terms of tourism. The Tourism Sector Modernization and Competitiveness Plan will mobilize more than 3,400 million euros in the next three years to modernize and improve the competitiveness of the Spanish tourism sector from a comprehensive perspective that encompasses different strategic areas of action, such as the sustainability of destinations and products, the promotion of the circular economy in the sector, the preservation of historical heritage, the digital transformation of the tourism model or the strengthening of trade in tourist areas.

"From the Government we want to make a firm commitment to digitization and tourism intelligence, with a public investment of € 355M with the aim of increasing levels of productivity, profitability, employment and competitiveness through the promotion of digitization, artificial intelligence and new enabling technologies in companies and destinations ”, said Maroto.

Along with digitization, the minister has pointed to sustainability as another fundamental pillar. To do this, the Tourism Sustainability Plans will be developed with the aim of modernizing pioneering tourist destinations and rural or inland destinations.

“In the case of the former, actions will be carried out to improve the capacity of managers to reconvert their tourism models and provide themselves with an intelligent and sustainable tourism model. For the latter, the aim is to boost rural destinations to help face the demographic challenge, use green infrastructures in a sustainable way and support local entities so that they are equipped with destination management entities ”, the minister concluded.



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