It is the first country in the world to develop specific standards in this field. The two new standards published establish the requirements for developing an effective management system for smart tourist destinations, as well as its indicators and tools.
30 October 2018. The Spanish Association for Standardization, UNE, has published two new standards to distinguish between smart tourist destinations. These standards, a global first, have been promoted by SEGITTUR (Sociedad Mercantil Estatal para la Gestión de la Innovación y las Tecnologías Turísticas), which chairs the working group responsible for the development of these standards within UNE Technical Committee for Standardization CTN 178, on Smart Cities. This joint announcement has been made on the occasion of World Cities Day, which is to be held tomorrow, 31 October. On the one hand, the new version of Standard UNE 178501:2018, Management system for smart destinations, has been published. Requirements. This standard specifies the requirements for developing an effective Smart Tourist Destination management system that adequately takes into account the governance, innovation, use of technology, universal accessibility and sustainability of the destination. This standard was first published in 2016 and has now been updated and improved, following a diagnosis relating to its practical application in 4 destinations: Benidorm, Sanxenxo, Jaca and the Valle de Aran.
The standard can be applied to all kinds of tourist destinations; among other requirements, it includes those relating to the context of the tourist destination, leadership and commitment, risks and opportunities, planning and objectives, and tourists' and citizens' evaluations and satisfaction.
In addition, the UNE 178502:2018 Standard Indicators and tools for smart destinations has been published, which establishes the characteristics of a Smart Destination Platform capable of providing a comprehensive view of the destination and ensuring the quality of tourism data.
To achieve this, the platform must facilitate decision-making, enable the coordination of services in order to offer tourists a better experience, and offer information in an open data format so that it can be used both by tourists and by all players in the sector in order to identify business opportunities aimed at increasing efficiency, sustainability and quality in the services provided.
