• The initiative has received backing from partners such as Telefónica, Amadeus, Intu and Distrito Digital Valencia.
  • Proposals from around the world will begin arriving 13 September at Wakalua, Globalia's tourism innovation hub.

St. Petersburg (Russia) - The World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) has joined Globalia, a leading tourism group in Spain and Latin America, to launch the second edition of the UNWTO Global Tourism Start-up Competition. After the success of the first edition, which attracted 3,000 applications from across the globe, the world's largest start-up competition for tourism has returned to identify ideas and innovators who will lead the transformation of the sector.

The new call for proposals was announced during the 23rd General Session of the UNWTO General Assembly in St Petersburg, Russian Federation. Announcing the news, UNWTO General-Secretary stressed the important role innovation can play in making tourism a central part of the Sustainable Development Agenda.

"With this competition we are exploring new terrain in tourism, innovation, entrepreneurship and sustainable development. We have succeeded in bringing together the most relevant stakeholders in the progress of our sector and its relevance on a global scale", said Zurab Pololikashvili.

Joining him for the announcement, Globalia CEO Javier Hidalgo emphasised the collaborative effort of this second edition, with support from partners including Telefónica, Amadeus, Intu and Distrito Digital Valencia.

"Wakalua will help us to foresee a bright, sustainable, and profitable future. It will help us to promote a circular economy and foster social development. Globalia knows that the tourism of the future will not be the same as the tourism of yesterday. It needs to be better for our planet, for our kids, and the environment. This competition will help us to achieve those goals through technology and innovation", said Globalia's CEO.

The new partners will actively engage in promoting the project's five categories in addition to choosing the best solutions and most disruptive projects based on new business models:

Smart mobility

In partnership with Telefónica, this category is for projects that improve travel quality and facilitate user mobility on any type of transport. The aim here is to reduce economic, environmental and time-related costs.

Smart Destinations

This category, supported by Distrito Digital Valencia, is for ideas that improve the sustainability and profitability of a destination from an economic, environmental and socio-cultural perspective, with technology shown to promote innovation and accessibility in an increasingly globalised world.

Deep Tech, rethinking localisation and geolocation

Awarded in partnership with Amadeus, this category is for ideas that provide a unique value to tourists and travel companies through localization systems. The category will be focused on ideas for using data extracted through AI and localization technology to make trips even easier. These ideas can be used to identify tourist destinations, link them to nearby airports, extract data on image, text or video localization, optimise urban routes, analyse reviews about locations and much more.

Disruptive hospitality

In collaboration with Intu, this category is aimed at identifying new or already established companies from all over the world to help Globalia give guests of the future a first-class experience in every way.

Rural development

Globalia will make a special effort to provide solutions for the forestry, agricultural and rural sectors, aiming to bolster the transfer of knowledge and innovation and improve viability and competitiveness. This category also seeks companies that work in risk management, animal welfare and the restoration, preservation and improvement of ecosystems, with a continuous focus on promoting the shift towards a decarbonised economy.

Furthermore, UNWTO will award a special sustainability prize to lend visibility to projects that are committed to more efficient tourism.

This annual competition is a major project from Wakalua, Globalia's tourism innovation hub, which will guide the winning start-ups, connect them with leading companies in the sector and support them as they scale-up their ideas. To accomplish this, UNWTO and Globalia have the support of the innovation consultancy firm Barrabes.

In the first call, 20 startups in 12 countries reached the semifinals and finals held in Budapest and Madrid, respectively. The tax return company Refundit, was the winner and Globalia, as a financial partner, also invested in Freebird together with Portugal Ventures, established a joint venture with Tripscience and launched a pilot with Pruvo.

The call for proposals for the 2nd UNWTO Tourism Startup Competition will be launched worldwide and will end on 15 November. The winners will be announced on 21 January 2020 during a gala event held during the Madrid International Tourism Fair (Fitur).

For more information and registration materials, visit www.tourismstartups.org.

About Globalia

Globalia is the largest tourist group in Spain and Latin America, with an annual revenue of nearly €4 billion in 2018. Operating in more than 60 countries and with 15,000 employees, Globalia offers services to all sectors of the tourism industry. It comprises a number of independent companies that are leaders in their markets, including Air Europa (airline), Halcón Viajes (travel agencies), Travelplan (tour operator), Be Live (hotel chain) and Groundforce (airport ground handling).

About UN Tourism

The World Tourism Organization (UN Tourism) is the United Nations agency responsible for the promotion of responsible, sustainable and universally accessible tourism.

As the leading international organization in the field of tourism, UN Tourism promotes tourism as a driver of economic growth, inclusive development and environmental sustainability and offers leadership and support to the sector in advancing knowledge and tourism policies worldwide.

Our Priorities

Mainstreaming tourism in the global agenda: Advocating the value of tourism as a driver of socio-economic growth and development, its inclusion as a priority in national and international policies and the need to create a level playing field for the sector to develop and prosper.

Promoting sustainable tourism development: Supporting sustainable tourism policies and practices: policies which make optimal use of environmental resources, respect the socio-cultural authenticity of host communities and provide socio-economic benefits for all.

Fostering knowledge, education and capacity building: Supporting countries to assess and address their needs in education and training, as well as providing networks for knowledge creation and exchange.

Improving tourism competitiveness: Improving UN Tourism Members' competitiveness through knowledge creation and exchange, human resources development and the promotion of excellence in areas such as policy planning, statistics and market trends, sustainable tourism development, marketing and promotion, product development and risk and crisis management.

Advancing tourism's contribution to poverty reduction and development: Maximizing the contribution of tourism to poverty reduction and achieving the SDGs by making tourism work as a tool for development and promoting the inclusion of tourism in the development agenda.

Building partnerships: Engaging with the private sector, regional and local tourism organizations, academia and research institutions, civil society and the UN system to build a more sustainable, responsible and competitive tourism sector.

Our Structure

Members: An intergovernmental organization, UN Tourism has 160 Member States, 6 Associate Members, 2 Observers and over 500 Affiliate Members.

Organs: The General Assembly is the supreme organ of the Organization. The Executive Council take all measures, in consultation with the Secretary-General, for the implementation of the decisions and recommendations of the General Assembly and reports to the Assembly.

Secretariat: UN Tourism headquarters are based in Madrid, Spain. The Secretariat is led by the Secretary-General and organized into departments covering issues such as sustainability, education, tourism trends and marketing, sustainable development, statistics and the Tourism Satellite Account (TSA), destination management, ethics and risk and crisis management. The Technical Cooperation and Silk Road Department carries out development projects in over 100 countries worldwide, while the Regional Departments for Africa, the Americas, Asia and the Pacific, Europe and the Middle East serve as the link between UN Tourism and its 160 Member States. The Affiliate Members Department represents UN Tourism's 500 plus Affiliate members.

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