Benidorm hosts the first smart space that measures tourist traffic in real time and displays its offerings with an AI robot

Benidorm inaugurates the first smart space that will measure visitor traffic and city activity in real time, as well as showcase its tourist offerings through an AI robot. This event was held at the start of the "Xato Cube" pilot project, launched by Restaurante el Xato and Inteligencia Turística (IT), which aims to capture MICE, gastronomic, and blue-collar tourism in the Marina Baixa region.

The event was attended by the Mayor of Benidorm, Toni Pérez; Olivia Estrella, Director of Tourism Innovation for Turisme Comunitat Valenciana; José Cano, General Manager of Xato; Aida García Mayor, Councillor for Innovation for Benidorm; Xelo González and María Jesús Jumilla, Councillors for Tourism in Altea and La Nucia; and Celia Romero, CEO of IT. The event showcased and tested the new physical-digital platform that integrates immersive technology and an intelligent robot capable of recommending personalised experiences based on tourist demand and profile.

The city is seeking to consolidate its position as an events and conference destination after closing 2024 with more than 3,000 100% MICE hotel beds and an increase of more than 30% in the volume of meetings and events compared to the previous year, according to data provided by the City Council. Gastronomic products also closed on the rise, representing 30% of spending in the destination and now the third most popular destination, behind only sun and beach and active tourism.

The objective, as explained during the event, is to position and improve the destination's international competitiveness through AI, considering that the flow of attendees at conferences and trade fairs seeks, in their free time, to discover the city, its culture, and its gastronomy. At the same time, it offers a distinctive feature of Benidorm compared to other competing destinations, with unique visitor experiences and contributing to maintaining the coastline and marine biodiversity: blue tourism.

Real-time analysis of data in use will reduce impacts and improve the overall visitor experience by recommending alternative, sustainable, and regenerative tourism options that simultaneously positively impact the destination and its residents.

The Smart Cube will be located in Benidorm City Hall until mid-July, taking advantage of the high tourist occupancy rate at this time. During this time, the consulting firm in charge of its implementation, Inteligencia Turística, will organize various guided tours and boot camps for industry entrepreneurs and tourists. The goal is to explain the potential of this tool and showcase the city's full range of offerings in its various areas, beyond its beaches, as well as the metrics obtained from the data-sharing spaces.

In September, it will be moved to La Nucia for the same purpose and shortly thereafter to Colombia, where the first contacts have been made with several universities to import this tourism technology there.

The Mayor of Benidorm stated that "innovation is one of the pillars on which our strategy as a destination and as a city pivots, and from that perspective, we constantly promote, collaborate, and reach out to projects and alliances that favor the development of this line and contribute to our positioning and visibility."

In this case, "we also create a region by linking the Benidorm brand to one of the century-old companies in the Marina Baixa, El Xato, a long-standing leader in gastronomy and now also in innovation; while we use this technological solution to showcase our MICE, Blue Tourism, and gastronomic offerings."

For the Director of Tourism Innovation at Turisme Comunitat Valenciana, "innovation is the path to competitiveness." Olivia Estrella highlighted how "at Turisme, through Invattur, we work alongside destinations and companies to promote this culture and apply technology to advance smart and collaborative tourism management." Xato Cube is an example of this path, because it shows how a company, the restaurant “El Xato”, together with 3 destinations, are moving forward together to open new opportunities for tourism in the Marina Baixa thanks to innovation.”

This ambitious project, funded by the Ministry of Industry and Tourism with European "Last Milla" funds and awarded to the Michelin-starred restaurant El Xato, with the support of the three municipalities of the Marina Baixa region: Altea, Benidorm, and La Nucía, the Alicante Provincial Council, and Turisme Comunitat Valenciana, marks a turning point in the tourism sector at the regional and national levels, Romero and Cano emphasized.

As both pointed out, it goes beyond being a showcase for the destination, as it transforms the way we understand, manage, and enjoy tourism, turning destinations into benchmarks in tourism innovation by connecting technology, sustainability, and unique experiences for the 21st-century traveller.

Technical characteristics

The Smart Cube measures 4.5, 3.5, and 3.5 meters. The exterior is covered with a large-format image of Benidorm and is fully accessible.

Inside, cutting-edge technologies will be used to display its contents. In addition to the first specialised AI agent adapted to several languages, visitors will view and interact within the cube through different audiovisual platforms.

Furthermore, this is the first real-time tourism data sharing demonstrator in Spain, where visitors, residents, businesses, and administrations can interactively access all the information about Benidorm and destinations in the Marina Baixa.

This will increase interoperability to improve tourism planning, enhance business competitiveness, and optimise public resources, as it combines data previously hosted and sourced from different sources and territorial platforms into a single tool.

This places Benidorm at the forefront of innovation, having been certified as the world's first Smart Tourism Destination in 2018. It has also been recognised with the 'European Green Pioneer for Smart Tourism 2025' distinction, an award sponsored by the European Commission that recognises the city's commitment to shaping the future of sustainable and innovative tourism.