Benidorm gives a new impetus to its race to be certified as the first Smart Tourist Destination
The Secretary of State for Tourism attends the presentation of the report on the test of the Norm UNE 178501 carried out by Segittur
Benidorm continues to take steps towards its certification as the first Smart Tourist Destination in Spain. The mayor of the city, Toni Pérez, has received the report with the results of the test of the UNE 178501 Standard for the Management of Intelligent Tourist Destinations which sets out what requirements the city meets and which it must adapt to obtain this certification. From now on, the efforts of the Management Entity - in which officials from more than 20 municipal departments participate - will focus on correcting these aspects in order to "obtain certification as a Smart Tourist Destination", which is "the immediate challenge" that the city Has been marked in tourism, as stressed by the mayor.
The mayor has moved this message during the event held in the Hall of Acts of the City Council in which has outlined a balance of testing of UNE 178501 in Benidorm, municipality chosen to test this standard next to Jaca, Vall D'Arán and Sanxenxo .
This act has been attended, among others, the Secretary of State for Tourism, Matilde Asián; The Government delegate in the Valencian Community, Juan Carlos Moragues; the president of Segittur (Spanish state company dedicated to the management of innovation and tourism technologies), Fernando de Pablo: the subdelegate of the Government in Alicante, José Miguel Saval; the regional secretary of Tourism, Francesc Colomer; the director general of the Valencian Tourism Agency (AVT), Raquel Huete; the manager of the Visit Benidorm Foundation, Leire Bilbao; as well as members of the municipal corporation and associations of the tourist sector; and students.
Regarding the results obtained by Benidorm, the head of Segittur said that the balance of the test has been "very positive" and added that a "strong alignment" has been detected between "the requirements of the Standard" and "previous work Carried out by Benidorm "to achieve certifications such as ISO or Technological Surveillance and Competitive Intelligence - UNE 166006/2011. De Pablo has highlighted the "total commitment of the City Council with the implementation of the Standard", having allocated resources and personnel to create a management body responsible for ensuring that Benidorm meets all the requirements to be a Smart Tourist Destination.
The mayor has said that "in the adn" of Benidorm are "four areas to develop 'to be considered Smart Tourist Destination: innovation, technology, sustainability and accessibility; and has influenced the involvement of the public and private sector to "advance the philosophy of 'smart city' throughout the value chain of tourism."
In this involvement and collaboration has also emphasized the Secretary of State for Tourism. In fact, Ansián has stated that the Tourist Destination Management Standard is based on this necessary public-private "collaboration".