Benidorm participates in the IV Plenary of the Network of Smart Tourist Destinations in Spain

This morning, the DTI Network held its IV Plenary Committee, which was attended by its 179 members, of which 119 are tourist destinations, 24 institutions and 35 representatives of collaborating companies. During the session, the adhesion requested by nine new institutional members, eight collaborating companies and one adhesion, as an observer, was approved, representing the Latin American jump of the network and in which Benidorm will be involved.

Established in 2019, with this city as a pioneering destination, the Smart Tourist Destinations Network has quadrupled its size and operability in its sixteen months of life under the approach of optimizing the technological transition and digitization.

In this sense, Mayor Toni Pérez stressed that the network "already attracts the attention of all Spanish destinations" and proposes its Ibero-American projection, "where there are already adhered initiatives for the creation of a network", pointing out the "leading role of Benidorm ”, for this new initiative in the American countries.

Pérez, at the end of the plenary session, also pointed out the strategic and operational importance of the network "in the worst moments" such as the one we are going through, "because it is serving as a lever for new initiatives and claims of destinations".

A fundamental role in the DTI process, the mayor stressed, “is to follow in the wake of the axes that set the standard; universal accessibility, innovation, sustainability, technology and governance ”and to comply with strict compliance with regulations. Axes and standard enable certification in a process where Benidorm is the first certified DTI in the world, since 2019.

In assessing the session, the mayor of Benidorm pointed out that "there are already about 120 cities involved in the network and almost one hundred institutions and companies in the tourism sector and the tourism industry", which reflects the importance that the DTI Network is acquiring .

Pérez considered that within the network "we continue to advance on the right track, taking advantage of the opportunity that circumstances offer us." And he highlighted the importance of Destination Tourism Sustainability Plans that will contribute to promoting destinations.

Benidorm was one of the destinations with financing proposals accepted in October 2020 "as one of the 25 approved projects, out of 150 submitted and only 8 in Sun and Beach destinations". The scheduled actions are included in Benidorm DTI + Safe Plan, pivoting on its Master Plan, framed in the city's Strategic Plan and the work axes of the last five years, aligned with the aforementioned five axes, the 17 SDGs and the 2030 Agenda.

In this regard, the mayor recalled that these plans "start this year" and that "actions in Benidorm worth more than 900,000 euros are already budgeted." The Tourist Sustainability Plans in destinations contemplate actions that will be carried out until 2023.

At the conclusion of the plenary session, Toni Pérez stressed that "Benidorm has once again become a paradigm and an example" within the DTI Network on "the way forward for all destinations". This issue, he pointed out, “makes us work more and better so that everything that we are able to promote from our city and from the certified DTI that is Benidorm is scalable so that all destinations in Spain can be the spearhead in this great process of digitization, which includes the DTI axes, for the benefit of this industry ”which is tourism.