The Eurecat technology centre, Tarragona Provincial Council and its Tourist Board today unveiled the Tourism Data System 2+ family tourism indicators platform developed as part of the TDS2+ operation in the PECT TurisTIC in Family Project. It furnishes tourist destinations on the Costa Daurada and in Terres de l’Ebre and their stakeholders with an integrated and innovative information system for tourism management which will enhance sustainable specialisation and competitiveness in Tarragona province.
The platform has been developed by the Eurecat technology centre in conjunction with Tarragona Provincial Council’s Tourist Board based on family tourism strategy and needs on the Costa Daurada and in Terres de l’Ebre to address the prerequisite for continuous information and data over time, including some in real time, to manage tourism operations. It has been rolled out over the last three years as part of the Territorial Specialisation and Competitiveness Project (PECT in its acronym in Catalan) TurisTIC in Family led and coordinated by Tarragona Provincial Council. The entire package of data sources envisaged will be added to it in the coming months.
These data come from multiple sources including in-house survey work, ongoing statistical operations, official registers, social media and, most innovative of all, data from sensor technology.
The platform was kicked off in its pilot stage on Tuesday, 14 December at an event held at Tarragona Provincial Council’s Auditorium where it was introduced by Ignacio de las Cuevas, Operations Director in Eurecat’s Tourism Innovation Department.
The Tourism Data System 2+ is “a system of indicators which delivers a holistic vision of tourism operations in the area and their impact,” says Jaume Ferrús, Eurecat’s deputy chair. “This means it can drive sustainable and smart management using its 273 indicators, over 140 of them designed to help run tourism operations in the public and private sectors and more than 130 providing information on the impact of these operations.”
“The TDS2+ Platform has blended the knowledge of the Provincial Council’s Tourist Board about our destinations with Eurecat’s expertise in information management and analysis,” notes Camí Mendoza, deputy chair of Tarragona Provincial Council’s Tourist Board. “The upshot is this first tool specialising in family tourism indicators which will help the Costa Daurada and Terres de l’Ebre become more competitive destinations and an international leader in this visitor segment.”
“Sustainable and smart tourist destinations are the only way forward,” comments Pere Granados, Tarragona Provincial Council Deputy Member for European Projects and Knowledge Region. “The tool we are unveiling today, developed as part of the PECT TurisTIC in Family project we are leading at Tarragona Provincial Council, helps us to become just that.”
This analytical tool “delivers a complete range of strategic indicators, especially for beach, wine and heritage tourism, which are displayed with interactive dashboards and include real-time data from sensors set up across the region which inform decision-making,” points out Jaume Salvat, TDS2+ leader in Eurecat’s Tourism Innovation Department.
The insight generated by Tourism Data System 2+ will make it possible to take a step forward in the sustainable management of Costa Daurada and Terres de l’Ebre tourist destinations and help to meet the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by tracking socioeconomic issues and the environmental impact of tourism.
Territorial Specialisation and Competitiveness Project TurisTIC in Family
PECT TurisTIC in Family is an intervention initiative coordinated by Tarragona Provincial Council. Its partners are Tarragona Provincial Council, Tarragona Provincial Council’s Tourist Board (Costa Daurada and Terres de l’Ebre), Rovira i Virgili University (Functional Nutrition, Oxidation and Cardiovascular Disease Research Group; NFOC Salut), Eurecat’s Tourism Innovation Department, Montblanc Town Council, the Catalan Institute of Human Palaeoecology and Social Evolution (IPHES) and the CENFIM interior furnishings and hotel contract cluster.
The Operation 2 Tourism Data System 2+ project is co-financed by the European Union’s European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) as part of the Catalonia ERDF Operational Programme 2014-2020, investment in growth and employment objective, and Tarragona Provincial Council.
