These two standards are key to moving forward in the transformation and competitiveness of sustainable tourist destinations and join other globally successful standards in this field, such as the UNE 178501.
These standards have been developed by the Technical Standardisation Committee CTN 178/SC 5 Smart Tourist Destinations of the UNE, the Spanish Association for Standardization, under the leadership of the Sociedad Mercantil Estatal para la Gestión de la Innovación y las Tecnologías Turísticas (State Trading Society for Innovation and Tourism Technologies Management) [SEGITTUR] and the coordination of the Instituto Tecnológico Hotelero (Hotel Technological Institute), Globaldit and Sismotur. The standards are drafted with the participation and consensus of all the parties involved.
The aim of the UNE 178504 Standard is for Digital, Smart and Connected Hotels (HDIC) to establish two-way communication with the tourist destination or the city, in order to improve tourists' experience, as well as the competitiveness and planning of the hotel and the smart tourist destination. Today's tourists are digital; they are technologically savvy and are permanently connected with the world through their mobile devices.
The standard UNE 178503 sets down the basic semantics to be used when describing relevant information on the tourist destination, thus guaranteeing the interoperability of tourist and smart city platforms and third-party developments. The standard includes a glossary of over 80 terms, a taxonomy and an appendix with coding examples.
This Standard establishes a reference to be used by cities, destinations and players in the tourism industry regarding the generation of digital content in the many channels used by tourists and visitors.
