Benidorm brings together leading players from the technology and tourism industries at the 8th edition of the Digital Tourist congress

The auditorium of Benidorm Cultural Centre will bring together leading players in the technology and tourism industries next week to discuss and learn about the opportunities offered by technology for the tourism sector, as the country's main economic and social driver, at the eighth edition of the Digital Tourist conference. The city's mayor, Toni Pérez, today presented all the details of this event, organised by the Spanish digital technology sector association, Ametic, in collaboration with the City Council. He was also joined in the presentation by the president of Ametic's Smart Cities Commission, Adolfo Borrero, and its vice president, John Mora. All three agreed that, throughout its previous editions, Digital Tourist has become "a benchmark in the field of tourism digitalisation."

Toni Pérez thanked Ametic for "once again choosing Benidorm as the venue for this congress" and emphasized that the city and Digital Tourist have gone "practically hand in hand" since its first edition, held just two months before Benidorm was certified as the world's first Smart Tourism Destination under the UNE 178501 standard in 2018, when "people were just starting to talk about smart destinations." "From then until now, we have seen the evolution of the DTI concept, and challenges, applications, solutions, and use cases linked to smart tourism have been raised, addressed, analysed, and resolved, accompanying the progress and growth of the city itself," he noted.

This new edition of Digital Tourist will bring together around 500 participants from both industries and will focus specifically on the development of the Smart Destinations Platform (PID), promoted by Segittur, based in Benidorm. This represents the country's major commitment to the comprehensive digitalisation of destinations, conceived as a collaborative tool for sharing data and experiences.

The conference will be inaugurated by Francisco Hortigüela, president of Ametic; Rosario Sánchez Grau, Secretary of State for Tourism at the Ministry of Industry and Tourism; Toni Pérez, Mayor of Benidorm and President of the Alicante Provincial Council; and Marian Cano, Regional Minister of Innovation, Industry, Trade, and Tourism of the Valencian Regional Government. Following the official opening, the program will feature panel discussions, presentations, and work meetings for two days, with representatives from public institutions and private companies. The agenda can be found at the following link: https://www.ametic-digital-tourist.es/agenda-digital-tourist

Additionally, Adolfo Borrero announced that Cantabria will be the guest autonomous community participating in the conference this time around. The program will focus on topics related to AI, digital twins, and tourism innovation centres. Details will be revealed, including the imminent launch of the Benidorm Innovation Hub and an innovative tourism information system promoted by Turisme Comunitat Valenciana.

The sessions will address relevant topics for the sector, such as connectivity between destinations, presented by Diego López Román (Telefónica), data processing in tourism with Orange, and the motivations of the new traveler, presented by Quim Martínez of MasterCard. Meanwhile, David Hurtado of Microsoft will present the keys to tourism transformation through new technologies.

Likewise, the president of this Ametic committee stated that there will be a space to analyze the present and future of the application of technology to tourism in Latin America, with the participation of the director of the Chamber of Commerce of the Galapagos Islands (Ecuador) and the president of the Brazilian National Association of Municipal Secretaries and Managers of Tourism (ANSEDITUR), which includes approximately 800 municipalities in Brazil. Ametic and ANSEDITUR will also sign a collaboration agreement to promote innovation in tourism management.

Other relevant events are also planned, such as the meeting of the board of directors of Invattur, the Valencian Institute of Tourism Technologies, and a plenary session of the Smart Tourism Destinations Network (RDTI), of which Ametic is a founding member and which already has more than 600 member entities.

Likewise, as every year, Digital Tourist will host the Digital Tourist Awards ceremony, which recognises the best initiatives in digital transformation applied to tourism. This year, six awards will be presented in categories such as innovation, sustainability, artificial intelligence, and immersive technologies.

Deployment of technological platforms

Both Adolfo Borrero and the Vice President of the Ametic Smart Cities Commission, John Mora, highlighted the opportunity of holding this eighth edition of Digital Tourist, as it coincides with a "key" moment in the deployment of various technological platforms applied to tourism, such as the state-wide PID (Pid) and those being developed in various destinations, including Benidorm.

In this regard, Mora referred to the latest call for grants from the State Secretariat for Tourism, endowed with €96 million in European Next Generation funds. These funds have been awarded to a total of 46 national destinations for the deployment of their platforms, and their projects "will be put out to tender shortly." Therefore, Ametic believes that this congress will also serve as a "major attraction" for digital companies to many of these destinations, including Benidorm.

The mayor noted that the city was one of 46 selected projects out of 250 submitted to this call for proposals. Its project, "Benidorm DTI Integrates with the PID," received a grant of 3.1 million euros. Its development includes more than 20 projects, fully funded by the EU.