Dénia, debate center of the keys on smart tourism
The capital of the Marina Alta, Dénia, has hosted a meeting organized by the Network of Technological Institutes of the Valencian Community (REDIT) and the Ministry of Innovation to discuss the challenges and keys around smart tourism within the framework of the Strategy of Intelligent Specialization of the Valencian Community.
The inaugural act was carried out by the mayor of the city, Vicent Grimalt, the director of REDIT, Gonzalo Belenguer, Benito Mestre, president of the Cercle Empresarial de la Marina Alta (CEDMA) and the regional secretary of Innovation and Digital Transformation, Jordi Juan .
Grimalt has emphasized Dénia's commitment to smart tourism and how technology is key to the modernization of the sector. For his part, the REDIT director explained that "technological institutes are always at the side of companies to be able to make their ideas and innovation projects a reality" and stressed that it is a matter of "attitude". The president of the Cercle Empresarial de la Marina Alta has highlighted the value of the city of Dénia as a tourist destination and has highlighted "the commitment of the sector to modernize".
Finally, Jordi Juan, Regional Secretary for Innovation and Digital Transformation, has reinforced the idea that the European Smart Specialization Strategy "is demanding that regions specialize in different areas and it is clear that tourism is key in the Valencian Community, so we want it to be competitive, to modernize and for that technology will be strategic”.
The technology centers have been represented by Mercedes Sanchis, Director of Innovation at the Institute of Biomechanics (IBV) and Isabel Meseguer, Head of Project Development at the Institute of Information and Communication Technologies (ITI), who have explained the capacities and some projects that are developing related to smart tourism.
On the part of ITI, the importance of developing technologies that can make it easier to collect data has been highlighted and the representative of the IBV has explained that its strategies put people at the center to achieve totally personalized experiences.
Also participating in the meeting were Jorge Ferrándiz, head of Big Data and Innovation at the Hotel and Tourism Business Association of the Valencian Community (HOSBEC), Francisco Juan Martínez, director of Invat tur, and José Ribes, from the Digital & Innovation team at Baleària, who have agreed that some of the challenges that the sector has to overcome have to do with connectivity, the incorporation of technical profiles and a change of mentality in a sector that suffers greatly from seasonality.