Experts from all over the country analyze the challenges of smart tourism destinations in Benidorm

Experts from all over the country analyze today in Benidorm the challenges and opportunities that tourism faces in the digital era, paying special attention to smart tourist destinations. The city hosts the Digital Tourist 2018 throughout the day, the first forum on smart tourism destinations (DTI) organized by the employers of the Spanish technology industry, AMETIC, and with the collaboration of the City Council, Visit Benidorm, the Provincial Council of Alicante , the Generalitat Valenciana, the Valencian Tourism Agency and the Tourist Board of the Costa Blanca.

The mayor, Toni Pérez, opened this morning officially the Digital Tourist 2018 in an event in which the General Director of Tourism of the Generalitat, Raquel Huete; the vice president of the Diputación de Alicante, Alejandro Morant; the president of Segittur, Enrique Martínez; the deputy general director of Development of the Information Society -dependent of the Secretariat of State for Digital Advance-, Antonio Alcolea; and Mª Teresa Gómez, general director of AMETIC.

During his speech, the mayor has indicated that the holding of this forum in Benidorm notes that the city was right when in 2016 he bet on "intelligence" applied to the management of the municipality, then, undertake "the road to transformation in DTI" as a key to "reposition" us.

After welcoming, Perez said that during the entire working day attendees "will see examples of the sustainability of Benidorm", one of the axes in which -together with accessibility, innovation and technology- is based the UNE 178501 standard for Management System of Smart Tourist Destinations; while he has defended the model of public-private tourism promotion that "improves us all", in clear allusion to the Visit Benidorm Foundation.

Both the deputy general director of the Information Society Development and the general director of Tourism have detailed the plans and programs launched by the state and regional administration to advise, support and / or finance the conversion of destinations in DTIs; and they have referred to the recent creation of the Spanish Network of DTI - of which Benidorm is a founding member - and of the future constitution of an analogous body at a regional level.

For his part, the director of Segittur has stressed that Spain is "a leader in tourism competitiveness" and "quality", and now it must be also in the technological application working in a "territorialized" way, with "projects that work" and "collaborating with all industries" in which the binomial tourism and technology can and should go hand in hand as in the case of Benidorm.

The vice president of the council has stressed the need to meet "the digital tourist", and has made reference to the Smart Costa Blanca project, which, like the 'Benidorm, Smart and Sustainable Tourism Destination', has been selected in the last call of the entity Red.es.

Finally, the general director of AMETIC has highlighted the importance of the Digital Tourist as it is an event in which "DTI experts, the companies of the sector" and "the four administrations: the European, the state, the autonomic and the regional".

Intelligent water management, protagonist of one of the six working tables
After the opening ceremony, an exhibition on the Big Data was launched by the Director of Innovation and Transfer of the Miguel Hernández University, José Mª Gómez; and of the expert in Smart Tourism and Smart Tourist Destinations, Celia Romero, coordinator in turn of the Ente Gestor DTI of Benidorm City Council.

Next, the first of the six work tables scheduled for the day, on 'Heritage and Cultural Tourism', was developed. Among the tables programs, one focused on 'The intelligent management of water in the DTI' and in which the case of Benidorm is exposed. In this table moderated by the manager of Visit Benidorm, Leire Bilbao, the general secretary of the employers association Hosbec, Nuria Montes; the director of Dinapsis Operation & Lab, Jorge Ballesta; and the director of Hidraqua Alicante, Miguel Ángel Benito.

The rest of the working groups revolve around 'Smart Beaches', 'Mobility and geo-positioning in tourism', 'Accessible tourism for all: an opportunity within our reach' and 'Business models in Smart Tourist Destinations'.

At the end of this last work table, the Secretary of State for Tourism, Isabel María Oliver, will close the Digital Tourist 2018.