Last 12 and 13 November the Pan-European network of EUREKA brought practically to our home its second business meeting to discuss ICT – tourism. The presidency and the secretariat which currently holds the cluster of Information Technology and Communication applied to tourism and chairs the CEO of Dingus, Jaume Monserrat has allowed turisTEC organize this event on the same technology park where our headquarters central.

But if the commitment as partners with the cluster or the ease of the proximity is not enough, panel participants and speakers made it really difficult not being interested in this quote… We had the opportunity to hear the thoughts and contributions to the tourism industry thanks to the technological companies, among others, for Eduardo Fayos-Sola (Ulysses Foundation), José Manuel Cabello (Innovalia Association), Javier Echavarri (CDTI), and Jafar Jafari, who returned to insist, as he has so many years doing it, that innovation and technology should serve to guarantee the quality of life of the society, thanks to the socio-economic development and respect for the culture, heritage and nature.

Experts in Tourism ICT addressed the challenge of hyper-personalization of products for an increasingly demanding customer and tastes individuals that the industry should pay attention. They also spoke about Smart Tourism and the need to incorporate accessibility and sustainability, of Big Data, of the possibilities of financing for innovative projects… and above all, collaboration: between companies, entrepreneurs, researchers and the various administrations.

The meeting, opened by the President of the Government of the Balearic Islands, Francina Armengol, she reached out to the private sector to convert Balearic international reference for ICT innovation – tourism, helping to end the phenomenon of the ‘brain drain ‘. Jaume Monserrat, Chairman of EUREKATOURISM, collected the glove recalling that companies in the sector grouped into clusters as turistec, completely privatized today, have never ceased to offer institutions a cooperation which translates into benefits for the community.

So for two days without moving and Technology Park Palma de Mallorca (Parc Bit) Dingus the team had the opportunity to learn about the latest market trends, the business models are succeeding, the most interesting ideas and projects, the penultimate in technology and public and private ways to make it all work. And we went back to the office with all, thinking and how to use it to improve our services…