Representatives of more than 120 tourist destinations in Spain attend the VII state meeting organized by the Ministry of Tourism, the City Council and the Barcelona Provincial Council
The VII Meeting of Managers of the Network of Smart Tourist Destinations (DTI) has brought together more than 170 people from 120 tourist destinations in Spain in Santa Susanna. For three days (6, 7 and 8 May), work has been done to move towards a tourism model that is increasingly sustainable but avoiding weakening the strength of a sector that represents 12.3% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), according to data from the National Statistics Institute for 2023.
Mayor Joan Campolier insisted at this meeting that the key is to ensure that the collaboration between the public sector (city councils, the Provincial Council, the Generalitat and the Government of Spain) and the private sector (tourism entrepreneurs) serves so that "when planning, managing or programming we look at everything with the glasses of sustainability; for example by saving water, using clean energy sources, not wasting food, recycling...". During the closing of the Meeting, Mayor Campolier made a plea in favor of the DTI Network – "we believe very much in this project; we feel fully identified with it" because "it is a model that is at the forefront of sustainable tourism"—and he justified it by saying that the fund of this project connects fully with the DNA of Santa Susanna. The mayor explained to the more than 170 DTI managers that the POUM of 1960 safeguarded the Santa Susanna countryside from urban speculation, and that the POUMs of 1982 and the current one have consolidated it.
Smart Destinations Platform
During the meeting, the destinations of the Intelligent Destination Platform (PID) were presented. It is a digital public infrastructure that will capture tourism information in real time and apply a specific strategy to implement the destination's objectives, such as relocating, deseasonalizing, improving the tourist experience, diluting saturation and maximizing SME spending. The PID will offer destinations twenty common services, ranging from smart strategy services, governance, travel management or promotion and marketing support, among others.
Open Innovation Platform
During the meeting, the destinations also learned about the Open Innovation Platform project. It is an initiative to promote digitalisation, open innovation in tourism and a tourism innovation ecosystem model, made up of three components: Sectoral data space, sandbox for experimentation and Marketplace, a single portal for digital solutions.
The Smart Tourist Destination programme
The Smart Tourist Destination (DTI) programme, launched in 2012, is an initiative promoted by the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Tourism through Segittur, which promotes the implementation of a management model that takes into account the transversality of tourism activity and the differentiating characteristics of each destination. Within the framework of the DTI project, in 2018 the DTI Network was established, which currently has 680 members: 501 destinations, 86 institutions, 86 companies and 7 international observers and which aims to promote the exchange of experiences and knowledge that contributes to the intelligent and sustainable development of tourist destinations.
You have to be there
Both Mayor Campolier and the Councilor for Sustainability, Innovation and Communication, Sílvia Vives, explained that being part of the DTI Network "gives visibility, prestige and opportunities to Santa Susanna. We are interested – said the mayor – that society knows the model of Santa Susanna; that they see how a town of 4,000 inhabitants is capable of being at the forefront of innovation in terms of sustainability". Campolier and Vives have remarked that it is good to know that "we have a well-ordered people". To conclude by stating: "And it is that, at the end of the day, everything we do benefits the people who live in the town because it allows us to have better facilities and living conditions".
The VII Meeting of DTI Managers has been organized by the Ministry of Tourism, through Segittur, by the Santa Susanna City Council and by the Barcelona Provincial Council. In addition to Mayor Campolier, the Secretary of State for Tourism and number two in the Ministry, Rosario Sánchez Grau; the Director General of Tourism of the Generalitat de Catalunya, Cristina Lagé Manich; the delegate president of the Economic Development and Tourism Area of the Barcelona Provincial Council, Ana M. Martínez Martínez; and the president of Segittur, Enrique Martínez Marín.
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