The mayor defends the key role of smart tourism in the reactivation

The mayor of Benidorm, Toni Pérez, closed his agenda of interventions on the opening day of Fitur 202, at the stand of Region of Murcia, participating in a round table on the applicability of Smart Tourism sharing a panel with the president of SEGITTUR, Enrique Martínez Marín, with the head of the Tourism Analysis and Smart Area of ​​Turismo Costa del Sol, Rafael Fuentes; and with the director of the Tourism Institute of the Region of Murcia, Juan Francisco Martínez Carrasco.

The coordinator of the Innovation Area of ​​the Murcia Region Tourism Institute, Belén Hidalgo, led the debate that focused on two aspects: the role that the smart tourism system is playing in the reactivation, indicating the participation of the sector in it, and how the use of smart tourism is helping us to make the destination more sustainable and competitive.

The mayor of Benidorm pointed out the paradigm of the application of IT to the world of tourism "is to get the most out of it." Through the analysis and interpretation of the data "you know the evolution and you can apply forecasting and governance". For Pérez, at the moment, “IT is not an option; it is a need that implies motivation, commitment and responsibility to manage better ”.

Regarding the use of ST, Toni Pérez explained that "with it we have changed the story of sustainability and we have put social sustainability ahead, which precedes environmental and economic". He indicated that "for the Municipal Administration it is necessary to be effective because it works with public resources." He gave as an example, the work of Visit Benidorm with the interpretation of the data analysis "to ensure the investment, profitability and repercussion of the actions that are undertaken in favor, after all, of the Benidorm society".

Streamlining actions, focusing strategies and focusing the action of resources have been the three issues that the table has evidenced as factors of the applicability of ST, recognizing that it lacks more accurate communication policies.

The president of SEGITTUR pointed out the importance of the data and its analysis "because the data clarify the situation and are tools that facilitate action". Martínez Marín demanded "flee from the traditional metrics of tourism and attend to indicators that are not visible as the destination itself and the people who configure the reality of the destination through more complex but more effective metric elements to attend to reality."