SEGITTUR and TURIUM have presented the report “Spain and the challenge of tourism data spaces”, whose goal is to provide an overview of the role of data spaces in tourism for source providers, as well as for destination management entities.
The document is a set of articles in which the authors analyse what a data space is, the need for data spaces, the tourism data space as an accelerator of the digitalisation of tourism in Spain, data as the future of tourism, data spaces as a driving element of competitiveness, and the importance of a sectoral tourism space.
Additionally, the guide details the experience of destinations such as Benidorm, on shared data; or the case of the Barcelona Provincial Council, which analyses the management of tourism data from the perspective of a tourism administration; or the example of the Spanish Network of Smart Cities that comments on the opportunity offered by data spaces for the development of tourism intelligence.
The report has relied on the collaboration of John Mora, Vice-President of the Smart Cities and Intelligent Tourism Commission of AMETIC; Olivier Jager, CEO of Forwardkeys; María Muñoz Ferrer, Director of Business Development in Spain for the IoT and Big Data area at Telefónica Tech; Paloma Real, General Director of Mastercard Spain; Juan Jesús García, Head of Industry Affairs, EMEA, at Amadeus; Leire Bilbao, Manager of Visit Benidorm; Xavier Font, Head of the Technical Tourism Office of the Barcelona Provincial Council; Monserrat Giró, Head of the LABTurisme Unit; Sandra Rodà, technician at the LABTurisme Unit; Francisco Javier Ridruejo, General Secretary of the RECI; Ramón Ferri, Director of Institutional Relations at SEGITTUR; and Laura Flores; Director of Business Development and New Technologies at SEGITTUR.
The report shows that, in a world driven by the constant flow of information, data sharing is going to become one of the main drivers that accelerate the development and evolution of tourism.
Benefits of data sharing
The ability to share data securely and reliably between different entities will generate great benefits such as promoting innovation, improving services, technological adoption and, by extension, allowing greater economic profitability.
Europe’s position in the data strategy is based on defending competitive capacity, protecting privacy, fostering innovation, preserving autonomy and technological resilience, promoting European standards and defending data sovereignty.
European projects
Europe has facilitated the development of several projects for the design of the future tourism data space, such as DATES (Tourism Data Space) and DSFT (Data Space for Tourism).
DATES is an EU project which aims to explore approaches and options for the deployment of a secure and trusted tourism data space that ensures transparent control of data access, use and reuse. This project has 13 European partners, including Spanish companies such as Amadeus, Tecnalia and AnySolution.
The DSFT project will allow all groups and stakeholders in the sector to share and access the data they need when they need it. This project is made up of the entities European Travel Commission, City Destinations Alliance, Model University of Vienna and the Spanish company Forwardkeys.
Challenges
The challenges posed by data spaces include data sovereignty, security and privacy, the digital divide and labour transformation, which must be addressed in an ethical and equitable manner.
The tourism sector must enhance and refine collaboration to leverage the benefits of data usage and, where appropriate, artificial intelligence, promoting innovation and improving tourist experiences, and, consequently, the economic, social and environmental impacts.
