Toni Pérez receives a Cuban delegation interested in the model developed by Benidorm, "the most effective model"
The DTI Benidorm experience will be implemented in Varadero (Cuba)
Cuba aspires to be the first certified DTI in the Caribbean following the SEGITTUR standard and the successful experience of Benidorm
The mayor of Benidorm, Toni Pérez, received this morning at the Mayor's Office a Cuban institutional delegation, chaired by Ramón Pomés, director of development of Cubanacan, interested in the DTI Benidorm experience for its implementation in the main destinations on the island, initially in Varadero.
For the Cuban representation, “Benidorm is the best laboratory; a success story" that they seek to emulate in their transition to the DTI, confirming Pomés that "Cuba aspires to be the first certified DTI in the Caribbean", for which they follow the standardization process implemented by SEGITTUR and the successful experience of Benidorm. The Corporation of Tourism and International Trade of Cuba, Cubanacan, is in charge of promoting, marketing and operating hotel facilities on the island; it has 389 hotel facilities.
Toni Pérez has expressed his satisfaction for "having chosen Benidorm as a model" since the process developed in Benidorm "has been a very elaborate job in which from the outset it was designed to be scalable: everything we could do had to be scalable and serve for other destinations”.
The mayor of Benidorm was accompanied at the meeting and the director of Visit Benidorm, Leire Bilbao, and the director of Smart Tourism, Celia Romero, hosted the subsequent work session at Benidorm Smart Office.
The Cuban delegation was made up of the director of Technology and Systems of the Ministry of Tourism of Cuba, Pavel Pavón, the director of the software development company Guajiritos SRL, Miguel Méndez, and Evelio González, general director of the GET Computer Services Company.
Pomés has highlighted the interest in the tourism chapter of the Caribbean island, for which the experience of Benidorm, Sun and Beach tourism, is considered fundamental in this challenge that they undertake where the island aspiration "is to return to the rhythm of 2019, rather than to the numbers” at the same time they seek to “innovate in the line that Benidorm is following, the most effective model”.
The Cuban delegation asked mayor Toni Pérez to develop an extraordinary collaboration in Benidorm "exchanging experiences" that contemplates "from the training of personnel in the Smart Office" as "evangelization in DTI development", participating with the University of Matanzas in training sessions on the island when considering that "the experience of Benidorm is essential for us!". Pomés considers it decisive to propose this collaboration that "in Cuba, where 67.6% is Sun and Beach tourism, it is admired how Benidorm has channeled competitiveness in Smart Tourism".
Toni Pérez highlighted the "interest in exploring Cuban proposals" and the importance of the Smart Office "in the processes of overcoming the pandemic and the management of aid and fundraising." At the same time, Pérez insisted on "the management and analysis of the data to determine governance actions and the crossing of information and data sharing for the management processes of the tourist destination."
