- In total, the autonomous communities will receive about 95 million euros for the digital transformation of 46 tourist destinations, through subsidies that will allow to accelerate the acquisition of digital technologies.
- The purpose of this aid is twofold: on the one hand, to promote more digital and intelligent relationships between tourists, companies and residents and, on the other, to generate data that allow better decision-making on more efficient and sustainable management challenges.
- The head of the ministry has made a balance of the year for the sector, a year in which Spain has consolidated itself as an international reference for the variety and quality of its offer.
December 17, 2024.- The Government, through the Ministry of Industry and Tourism, has announced the provisional concession of 6,479,764 euros to the Region of Murcia in aid for the digital transformation of 2 tourist destinations in the region.
In total, the autonomous communities will receive about 95 million euros for the digital transformation of 46 tourist destinations, through subsidies that will allow to accelerate the acquisition of digital technologies to improve destination management and the competitiveness of companies, in addition to promoting collaboration between administrations.
These grants will also allow beneficiary destinations to develop digital solutions that link their management to the Intelligent Destination Platform (PID) created by the Ministry of Industry and Tourism.
Recipients of grants
In the form of municipalities, the beneficiaries of the aid have been: Murcia, Valencia, Vinaroz, Logroño, Valladolid, Pamplona, Rivas Vaciamadrid, Santander, Almería, Rincon de la Victoria, Gijón, San Bartolomé de Tirajana, Castelldefels, Rota, Granada, Malaga, Seville, San Esteban de Gormaz, Oviedo, Burgos, Getafe, Salamanca, Tarragona, Las Rozas, Benidorm, Mancomunidad do Salnés, Jerez de la Frontera, Comarca Cinco Villas.
In the form of provincial councils, cabildos and island councils, the grants are for the Cabildo Insular de Gran Canaria, Diputación provincial de Cádiz, Diputación de Badajoz, Diputación provincial de Alicante, Diputación provincial de Málaga, Diputación provincial de Sevilla, Consell de Mallorca, Diputación provincial de Granada, Diputación de Valencia, Diputación de Cáceres, Diputación de Barcelona, Diputación de Álava, Diputación provincial de Ourense and Diputación provincial de Jaén.
In the category of uniprovincial autonomous communities, the beneficiaries have been the Principality of Asturias, the Region of Murcia and the Community of Madrid.
Spain, international tourism reference
In the framework of a forum on tourism organized by CEOE in Madrid, the Minister of Industry and Tourism, Jordi Hereu, has taken advantage of the announcement to make a balance of the year in the sector. A 2024 that has consolidated Spain as an international reference for the variety, quality and sustainability of its tourism offer and that is heading, in the absence of the definitive data of the last months, to a new record of spending on destination and arrival of international tourists.
This statistical impetus is also serving to promote the social transformation of the sector, with more and better jobs (today we have seen the affiliation figure for November, which adds 135,000 new jobs, the vast majority of employees), seasonalization of supply and deconcentration of destinations.
What will the aids be used for
The purpose of this aid is twofold. On the one hand, promote more digital and intelligent relationships between tourists, companies and residents in the destinations. On the other hand, generate data that allows more informed decision-making on challenges related to more efficient and sustainable management of destinations, addressing challenges such as saturation or the use of public services.
After evaluating the 250 applications received in the call for grants, 46 projects have been selected for funding. The grants are distributed among different types of entities: municipalities (59.4%), provincial deputies, island councils and councils (35%) and uniprovincial autonomous communities (5.6%), with assigned amounts of 56.4 million euros, 33.2 million euros and 5.3 million euros, respectively.
These projects will be integrated into the Smart Destination Platform (PID), strengthening the common project that will serve all other destinations in the Smart Tourism Destination Network. This country platform project aims to improve the balance between tourist and residential use of destinations, putting the resident in the center.
Platform development country
The PID aims at the digital transformation of the tourism sector and seeks for destinations to optimize their management through the implementation of innovative digital tools. This will allow a better relationship between tourists, companies and residents and a more efficient management of public services.
This platform will be designed in a modular way, so that components can be added progressively and will allow the development of new shared solutions that will benefit tourist destinations with common needs and diagnoses. The IDP core node modules that have generated the most interest among destinations have been those related to destination surveys, data exploitation systems or tourism information systems.