Benidorm, awarded at the anniversary event of the DTI Model and Network of the Valencian Community

This Monday, Benidorm City Council hosted the commemoration of the 10th anniversary of the DTI Model and the 5th anniversary of the DTI Network of the Valencian Community, organized by the Department of Tourism, where the city has also been awarded as a pioneering destination in smart tourism. The mayor of Benidorm, Toni Pérez, has participated in this event along with the Minister of Industry, Innovation, Commerce and Tourism of the Generalitat Valenciana, Nuria Montes; the regional secretary and the general director of Tourism, Cristina Moreno and José Manuel Camarero; as well as numerous councillors of the municipal Corporation; mayors, councillors and tourism technicians from municipalities in the Community; and numerous representatives of the sector, among them, the president of Segittur, Enrique Martínez.

Toni Pérez was in charge of welcoming all the participants in this event to the city, in a speech in which he recalled the work carried out by Benidorm in recent years to position itself at the forefront in the use of tools for data sharing, as well as formulas that have fostered co-governance and public-private collaboration. “Today we celebrate ten years of that DTI Model, a turning point, which outlined a new model and a roadmap, in which many of us have been covering stages with a milestone that has marked it, such as that fifth anniversary. , which we also celebrate today, from the DTI Network of the Valencian Community”, highlighted the first mayor.

The mayor delved into the fact that “shared data are today another stage of the entire effort that began with a clear voice from tourism when there was then a State Secretariat for Digital Agenda linked to the Ministry of Tourism and which promoted that the municipalities, regardless of our size, could also evolve into what is known as a smart city.” In his speech, Pérez recalled that, although “initially Benidorm was not on this roadmap, from the autumn of 15 we thought that, if tourism was going to follow these paths, Benidorm had to be part of it”, after which highlighted that, as a result of all the efforts made, the city has ended up being “a promoter as an institution of the DTI-CV Network and, before that, of the Spanish Network of smart tourist destinations.”

“And, in addition to all that, Benidorm has also had the fortune and recognition as the first destination in the world certified by the UNE 178501 standard, a very demanding standard, but one that only has to serve all of us who are here now celebrating this anniversary. as an incentive to continue moving forward.”

The first mayor concluded by recognizing “the tireless work for co-governance, co-responsibility and coordination that we have experienced in Benidorm; to all those who have passed through the Department of Tourism as technicians, to those who make up the DTI managing entity and to Visit Benidorm Foundation, for having travelled that route that never stops and for managing what has given us so many opportunities, and in the best way possible, such as the tourism industry.”

During the event, the Department of Tourism also granted different recognitions to other destinations and agents in the sector. Among them, the tourism revitalization and governance plan 'Maestrat, ànima interior'; to the town of Morella; to the association representing the digital industry sector in Spain, Ametic, which has been collected by the president of its Smartcities commission, Adolfo Borrero; to the professor and director of the University Institute of Tourism Research of the UA, Josep Ivars; and the State Society for the Management of Innovation and Tourism Technologies of the Ministry of Industry and Tourism, Segittur, which its president, Enrique Martínez, has included.

All of them, and all of the 111 municipalities of the Community that are part of the DTI Network, have been held up as an example of “participatory governance, collaboration and mutual support” by the Minister of Tourism, Nuria Montes. The regional manager has stated that this Network “must serve to help municipalities face in the best conditions the different future challenges that arise for the tourism industry”, among which she has cited sustainability and climate change as a priority of our visitors.

Assistance programs  

During her intervention, the Minister of Tourism also confirmed that the Generalitat will continue to promote these programs, through different lines of grants. She indicated that 5 million euros from Next Generation funds will be allocated to train both administration personnel and private company workers in digital skills. Likewise, she announced that another 21 million will be allocated for companies to promote sustainability projects and that, in addition, there will be an exclusive line of these funds for projects promoted by municipalities and related to social sustainability and confronting climate change.