SEGITTUR and The Spanish Association for Standardisation (UNE) have signed a collaboration agreement to promote standardisation in the tourism sector, especially in the field of smart tourism.
The agreement, signed between SEGITTUR’s President, Enrique Martínez Marín, and the Director General of UNE, Javier García Díaz, will boost the activity of the institutional coordination committee for tourism standards and certifications, UNETUR, which operates under the technical secretariat at UNE, as a driving force for maintaining Spain’s position as a leader in the tourism sector.
The development of technical norms and standards to support sustainability, digital transformation and the competitiveness of the Spanish tourism sector that optimise Spain’s leading position on the international tourism market will also be pursued.
Training is another of the working areas included in the agreement, as training in standardisation for agents in the tourism sector is envisaged.
Spain, a smart destination
In 2022, eight new standards linked to smart tourism will be approved, creating a homogeneous framework for encouraging the digitalisation of destinations.
Two of these have just been published: the UNE 178502 Standard, which establishes indicators and tools for smart destinations, and the UNE 178503 Standard, which describes ways of ensuring semantic interoperability in this type of destination. These are updates to the standards published in 2018 and 2019, which at the time were pioneers on the world stage. The standards are periodically reviewed and updated to meet new needs within organisations, changing contexts, and the evolution of technology.
Six innovative future standards
Moreover, this year six standards will be published, focused on the optimisation of areas such as website creation, and a model for mobile apps and Wi-Fi applications on beaches, all of which are innovative and reflect the transformation of the Spanish tourism model. The following draft standards are currently at the public information stage:
- The update of the UNE 178504 Standard, led by the Hotel Technology Institute (ITH), which contributes to the digitalisation of hotels and increases their connectivity.
- The future UNE 178505 Standard, led by SEGITTUR, which will establish the framework for the creation of websites for tourist destinations.
- The UNE 178506 Standard, coordinated by SEGITTUR, which will establish a methodology for optimising SEO for tourist destination websites.
- The UNE 178507 standard, led by Visit Benidorm and Wiongo, which develops applications for Wi-Fi connections on beaches.
- The new UNE 178508 Standard, coordinated by GVAM, will set out the requirements for the development, design and content of mobile applications for smart destinations.
- The UNE 178509 IN report, coordinated by the Regional Government of Murcia (CARM), will present the current situation with regard to the model for the collection, exploitation and analysis of tourism data.
In addition to these standards, UNE 178501, the backbone of them all, establishes a management system for smart tourist destinations based on the key principles of governance, innovation, technology, accessibility and sustainability. In 2018 it became the first global standard in this field, and was spearheaded by SEGITTUR.
