The new tourism strategy advocates the “sustainable development of Tenerife”

The Board of Directors of Tenerife Tourisman entity dependent on the Cabildo, has approved this roadmap to enhance the tourism brand of an Island that received in 2022, with the recovery of the sector after the stoppage of the covid pandemic, 5.7 million visitors, who spent close to 6,500 million euros. This map comes from conclusions of a study of the University of La Laguna that detected gaps in the use of technology as added value.

This initiative will favor, according to a statement from the Island Corporation, that “Tenerife becomes a laboratory of tourist services and products that, supported by cutting-edge technologies, innovation and knowledge, guarantee the sustainable development of the territory.” in such a way that the Smart Office Tenerife It will be “an innovative tourism management and development tool” that is committed to “strengthening the leadership of the destination in the era of digitalization and artificial intelligence.”

Sustainability. It is one of the hubs of Tenerife Smart Destination. The strategic map is committed to creating programs that promote the progression of the Tenerife territory that respects the environment. Among the projects it foresees are those aimed at managing sustainable tourism, promoting and recovering cultural heritage, improving water cycle management, improving non-polluting mobility and reinforcing “economic sustainability”. .

This document exposes the main natural attributes of the Island: the National Park of the Teide, the most visited in Spain and a World Heritage Site; the laurel forest, a forest shared with the rest of the Macaronesian islands that is unique in the world; volcanic processes, 54% of the territory protected with an extensive network of trails, the permanent colony of 500 cetaceans, more than 600 endemic species and one of the “cleanest” skies in Europe.

Accessibility. The new roadmap of Turismo de Tenerife seeks programs that train its staff and that of the island’s town halls in universal accessibility. It also advocates the inclusion of universal accessibility in planning tools and the promotion of those establishments or attractions tourism that have the means to care for people with various degrees of disability.

Talent. The map includes talent as one of the main lines to explore and promote so that Tenerife improves its tourist offer. Aspects such as training, the attraction of “foreign talent” and the promotion of the Island as “a meeting place for the tourist, technological, scientific and humanist community around new travel models” are included. As an example, the document cites the Puerto de la Cruz project, a sustainable remote work district.

Culture. The cultural sector has its own section in this plan called Tenerife Smart Destination. And Puerto de la Cruz reappears in the acting lines as a model. The challenges are the following in this section: generate and disseminate a vision of the city from culture, use knowledge in building the image of the destination, stimulate social participation and extrapolate the progress achieved in the city of Porto to the rest of the municipalities of Tenerife.

Smart style. Another section is dedicated to intelligent products, also called smart, designed with components that can relate, collect and communicate data during their manufacturing and use phases. Smart cities or intelligent cities aim to improve the lives of their citizens, but what about visitors? Well, these tools can be very useful, even decisive, to generate great business opportunities in the exploitation of technological services dedicated to tourists since the use of ICT (information and communication technologies) promotes ecological, sustainable tourism and, Also, more attractive.

The use of technologies also helps the tourism sector to experience its own digital transformation, in a context in which leading companies are transforming the way in which people travel and enjoy accommodation and leisure. Therefore, smart cities and smart tourism must go hand in hand. What this program proposes is to apply these advances so that Tenerife creates its own “smart style”.

Innovation and technology. This plan for the tourist development of the Island believes that the Digital Transformation Plan of Tenerife Tourism is essential, the creation of a laboratory for new tourist products and services, the promotion and marketing of the Island’s offer in new channels and the promotion of innovation in the insular tourism intelligence system. It also advocates reinforcing the human resources dedicated to ICT of Turismo de Tenerife, a plan to modernize the Cabildo and the implementation of the Artificial Intelligence Tourism Master Plan.

Governance. One of the most important sections is that of “governance”. The need for the town councils to coordinate or to create a management office for large innovative and technological projects of Turismo de Tenerife is cited. It also proposes “a battery of actions to improve the participation and cohesion of the sector around the Smart strategy of Tenerife or the launch of an office that collects statistics on the main economic sector of the Islands.

Means to achieve it. The program considers that Tenerife has, apart from a large hotel complex, natural and cultural attractions and a good climate, important means to get closer to the objectives. There are the tricontinental submarine fiber network, the Anaga and Teide supercomputers, the insular high-speed broadband ring or the D-Alix data center. Important scientific centers also stand out: Instituto Astrofísico de Canary IslandsTechnological Institute of the Canary Islands, Scientific and Technological Park of Tenerife, Technological Institute of Renewable Energies, Nanotec, Oceanographic Center of the Canary Islands, Geophysical Center of the Canary Islands, Canarian Institute of Agricultural Research or the Institute of Natural Products and Agrobiology.