The challenges of post-pandemic tourism and the digital transformation of the industry will take centre stage at the 9th TurisTIC Forum congress hosted by the Eurecat technology centre and to be held on 22 June at the Sant Pau Art Nouveau Site in Barcelona as well as online.
The congress “will review what has happened in the last year in the industry,” says Gemma López, Eurecat’s Institutional & Business Events Director. That includes “the new business models which have emerged to deal with the slowdown in tourism, how to build the recovery based on destination reputation, the opportunities unlocked by the EU’s NextGeneration funds, the current situation and projects devised to adjust to the new normal.”
It will also look at destination management using artificial intelligence and ‘digital nomads’, a new niche tourism market. The pandemic “has spurred the growth of this new profile powered by teleworking and the decentralisation of large and small enterprises,” adds Salvador Anton Clavé, director of Eurecat’s Tourism Innovation Department and professor of Geographical Analysis at Rovira i Virgili University (URV). He underlines “the importance of addressing challenges such as digitalisation, designing innovative experiences, adjusting to changes in demand and keeping tourists happy.”
The TurisTIC Forum will feature a keynote speech by Lasse Rouhiainen, a writer, consultant and international expert in artificial intelligence, disruptive technologies and digital marketing, who will unpack the opportunities Artificial Intelligence brings to the tourism industry.
The afternoon session will be held exclusively online and feature a number of presentations looking at how to manage restarting the industry with projects geared towards attracting tourists, visitor flow control and reducing congestion along with enhancing the user experience.
The Catalan Tourist Board will also present the new instalment of the Startechtour Challenge, a programme supporting technological entrepreneurship in tourism.
The TurisTIC Forum is to be held this year as part of the Tourism and ICT week. It will bring together tourism enterprises, innovation and technology development firms and public institutions, organisations and trade associations specialising in these industries.
The 9th congress is sponsored by the Catalan Government’s Ministry of Business and Knowledge, Barcelona City Council and Barcelona Provincial Council, with the support of the Sant Pau Art Nouveau Site, Sparkup and Checkpoint.
