NECSTouR has been represented by the Region of Andalusia at the 2nd UNWTO World Conference on Smart Destinations which has been organised in Oviedo form the 25 to the 27 June 2018.

Mrs Susana Ibáñez - Secretary General for Tourism of the Regional Government of Andalusia - presented the Smart Specialisation Platform of Digitalisation and Safety for Tourism - which Andalusia co-leads and which is supported by NECSTouR - as a concrete example to invest in a sustainable way in the tourism of tomorrow.

Increase investments. As the representative of Andalusia clearly presented, the aim of this platform is indeed to support increased investments, regional growth, work opportunities and innovations, to build up resilience and innovations through local networking among business, authorities, associations and educational institutions; to take better use of digitalisation and safety in the development of tourism innovation; to support value chains in tourism in terms of investment pipelines and platforms; SME´s to be able to achieve economic growth; to enhance and boost economic and scientific development.

Tourism of Tomorrow Lab. Through this platform, Andalusia will focus in particular to the development of a "Tourism of Tomorrow Lab", proposing investment project in the field of the access to data, for the benefit of both public and private regional tourism stakeholders.

European Regional Engagement. The initiative "Digitalisation and Safety for Tourism" is one of the 11 thematic Areas of the Smart Specialisation Platform for Industrial Modernisation (S3P-Industry), by the European Commission. 5 Regions of NECSTouR are partner of this initiative: Andalusia, Catalonia, Lazio, Tuscany and the Region of Valencia.

Photo by UNWTO