Benidorm renews its certification as DTI after exceeding the requirements set by SEGITTUR

Benidorm has renewed its certification as a Smart Tourist Destination (DTI) after exceeding the requirements demanded by the SEGITTUR methodology. This was reported today by the entity and the mayor, Toni Pérez, who pointed out that the city already has the revision of its DTI Diagnostic Report, which was initially prepared by SEGITTUR in 2018, thus implementing the Smart Tourist Destination methodology promoted by the Secretary of State for Tourism of Spain in the destination.

Toni Pérez explained that the Smart Tourist Destination Distinction is awarded only if the destination obtains a score in the degree of compliance with the requirements that make up the new DTI methodology, equal to or greater than 80%; "a percentage that we have exceeded" and that "allows us to renew the accreditation, which is valid until August 1, 2026." Regarding the 2018 methodology, this new methodology includes new criteria to be evaluated. After recalling that “Benidorm was the first certified DTI in the world in 2018 with the UNE 178501 standard and to be distinguished under the methodology of the National DTI Network on that date with the first Diagnostic Report”, the mayor has detailed that “in this new Diagnosis, the axes of Governance, Innovation, Technology, Sustainability and Accessibility have been valued one by one”. It is in this last axis in which “the improvement has been spectacular, having increased by more than 20 points the assessment obtained in 2018”.

Specifically, the increase has been 21.1 points, from 62.3% compliance in 2018 to 83.4% achieved on this occasion.

The mayor has assured that “this result shows our firm and sustained commitment over time to Accessibility, which has led us to act in all the city's neighbourhoods, to promote a specific plan for Tourist Accessibility and to work on the ground with entities that promote inclusion”. At this point, and as an example, he has referred to the progressive elimination of architectural barriers, the commitment to a single platform on many streets in the city, or the implementation of Navilens system for guiding people with vision problems.

The rest of the axes have obtained a score similar to that of the diagnosis six years ago, “with the greatest room for improvement in Technology, which has been placed at 75.9%”. Toni Pérez has clarified that “the same SEGITTUR Report states that the Technology axis will improve significantly as the implementation of the actions planned in the project ‘Benidorm, Intelligent and Sustainable Tourist Destination’ of the Red.es program, now in execution, progresses.

As pointed out by SEGITTUR, with the renewal of the accreditation “Benidorm is part of the group of destinations that lead excellence in terms of the implementation of the DTI model, placing itself at the forefront of tourism development and with a future strategy based on governance, sustainability, accessibility, innovation and technology as backbone axes”.

“We were pioneers in tourist intelligence and the first to be recognized as DTI, and in this time we have not lowered our level of self-demand by one-tenth, because we want to be better every day, both for our residents and for those who visit us”, the mayor maintained. Benidorm has been part of the Smart Tourist Destinations Network since February 2019, a sign of the destination's commitment to its tourism transformation, which has materialised through the implementation of the Smart Tourist Destination methodology.

The implementation of the DTI methodology has been possible thanks to the collaboration of all areas of the City Council with the private sector and also with the academic world that has closely followed the progress and movements of Benidorm to this end.

SEGITTUR has reported that, in addition to Benidorm, the following destinations have achieved DTI renewal at a national level: Barcelona, ​​Bilbao, Donostia/San Sebastián, Gijón, Lloret de Mar, Málaga and Santander.

Smart Tourist Destination Program

The Smart Tourist Destination program is a project promoted by the State Secretariat for Tourism (SETUR) and managed by the State Trading Company for the Management of Innovation and Tourism Technologies (SEGITTUR), which seeks to contribute to improving the competitiveness of tourist destinations and the quality of life of their residents by focusing on five areas of action: governance, innovation, technology, sustainability and accessibility.

This initiative, which arose from the National and Comprehensive Tourism Plan 2012-2015, generates the appropriate mechanisms to facilitate the rapid incorporation of innovations in destinations.

The Smart Tourist Destination is defined as an innovative tourist destination, consolidated on a cutting-edge technological infrastructure, which guarantees the sustainable development of the tourist territory, accessible to all, facilitating the interaction and integration of the visitor with the environment and increasing the quality of their experience in the destination and improving the quality of life of the resident.

To achieve these objectives, the DTI programme promotes a management model that takes into account the transversality of tourism activity and the differentiating characteristics of each destination. It is based on a diagnostic methodology, based on 97 requirements and 261 indicators, which results in a system of recommendations and a monitoring system, which make up the fundamental elements of the model, allowing a process of continuous improvement in the management of the destination adapted to the present and future challenges of tourism.

The DTI model developed by Spain is a national and international reference recognised as a good practice by the World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO), the European Commission, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB). Likewise, the DTI initiative is part of the Spanish Urban Agenda 2019.