Today, Forum TurisTIC highlighted the sector’s ability to generate value by making the most of digitalisation and stressed that the acceleration of transformation that this entails, from the perspective of tourists, companies and destinations, becomes key for moving forward towards the new post-pandemic tourism, on a horizon where it is anticipated that the digital economy industry will grow annually by 5.9 per cent up to 2023 globally.

The Forum TurisTIC congress—in its seventh edition this year—emphasised the fact that tourism catalyses innovation processes in technological fields ranging from digital technologies to environmental or well-being-focused innovations, in a context marked by the European Union target to have 75 per cent of European companies using solutions such as the cloud, artificial intelligence and big data by 2030.

At the opening of the congress, organised by the Eurecat technology centre and held at CosmoCaixa Barcelona and online, Roger Torrent i Ramió, the Catalan Minister of Business and Employment, spoke of the need ‘to transform the production model and tourism model to respond more efficiently and directly to the post-pandemic demands of the population, which will be different to the ones there were before’. The minister pointed out that ‘tourism and technology are an essential factor in the mission to change and transform tourism’ and expressed the Government of Catalonia’s desire to ‘be an active factor in transformation’ and to ‘do so through public-private collaboration’.

Finally, Torrent noted that Catalonia has a competitive advantage: ‘We are a leading power as a tourist destination and, at the same time, Catalonia and Barcelona have cemented themselves as a world technology capital because we have talent, very strong business initiatives and events of reference such as MWC and ISE’.

In his speech, Eurecat Chair Xavier Torra emphasised that ‘technological innovation is fundamental from the perspective of the sustainability of tourism activity and to make the most of the opportunities opened up by digital transformation’.

‘The raw material of tourism are people and, therefore, when we talk about innovation and transformation, we mustn’t forget the involvement of the relationships between people in the context of the transformation of cities’, remarked Xavier Marcé, Barcelona City Council’s Councillor for Tourism and Creative Industries.

At Barcelona Provincial Council, on the other hand, they ‘are convinced that improving the competitiveness of the sector includes ensuring the sustainability of tourist destinations’, noted Abigail Garrido, the Council’s Deputy Member for Tourism. ‘Sustainability defined from the environmental, economic and social viewpoint, and that gives meaning to our duty to support the local bodies in the province of Barcelona’.

The impacts of climate change on tourism

The congress included four reflection sessions that examined aspects such as sustainable tourism, how the use of social media impacts the new tourist, technology applied to the sector, and the metaverse and tourism of the future.

In terms of the impacts of climate change, Carles Ibáñez, the head of Eurecat’s Climate Change Line, highlighted ‘the effects of global warming, as they may be a dissuasive factor when it comes to choosing a Mediterranean destination in summertime, and the effects of heavy rains and extreme droughts, which can have an impact on the safety of tourists and the supply of services’.

‘We anticipate an evolution of social media towards the social aspect and with a much stronger community approach where the interaction is genuine and between partners instead of from company to consumer’, said Mar Pagès, the co-founder of Solo Female Travelers, who explained that ‘trust and transparency are the secret to the success of online communities’.

During the round table on technology, Esther Fernández, Strategy Advisor and Innovation Management at Amadeus, indicated that ‘solutions based on artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things and the use of data already play an important role in improving user experience and process optimisation, and thanks to these technologies, travellers will take full control of their trips’.

In addition, the congress featured the virtual participation of Simon Milne from the New Zealand Tourism Research Institute; Dimitrios Buhalis from Bournemouth University’s Business School; Benjamin Lephilibert from LightBlue Consulting; Hai Ho from Triip; and Nicholas Hall from the Digital Tourism Think Tank, keynote speakers from previous editions that analysed the evolution of tourism in recent years.

The event, whose 10th anniversary was celebrated today with the title ‘10 years of Tourism and Innovation: Reflections’, brought together companies from the tourism, innovation and technology development industries, as well as public institutions, organisations and trade associations that specialise in these industries.

Forum TurisTIC is a congress organised by Eurecat and promoted by the Government of Catalonia, Barcelona City Council and Barcelona Provincial Council, with the collaboration of the ”la Caixa” Foundation, Pal Robotics, Resol and Voilà.