The FiturNext Observatory: What Is It and What Does It Do?

Caribbean News…
18 January 2020 4:17am
two men walk past We Are Tourism sign at FITUR

The FiturNext Observatory, the FITUR platform dedicated to detecting good practises in tourism with positive effects that can be replicated, will focus its research on how tourism can contribute to local economic development. 

This is one of the challenges that the Observatory, after analysing hundreds of good practises throughout the world, has identified as key to enabling tourism to boost its positive effect.

As stated by the WTTC, the influence of tourism on the global economic activity and on the creation of employment continues on the rise. Tourism now represents 10.4% of the world’s GDP and is responsible for 1 of every 5 new jobs created in the world in the last five years. 

However, its economic benefits do not always sufficiently reach the local economies and communities.  

Given this situation, and in order to respond to this challenge, the Observatory is working on identifying those practises that benefit local economic development by increasing the employability of minority or vulnerable groups; creating opportunities to generate local or proximity businesses that will join the supply chains of the tourism industry, and support to expand the benefits of tourism to new ecosystems run by the local community.

Thus, promoting local economic development and the sustainability of the destination contributes to tourism activity, while at the same time addressing the preferences of travellers, who are increasingly more involved. According to Booking, 7 of every 10 travellers want for the money that they spend to be reinvested in the local community.

Along with this analysis, the Observatory researchers have developed their own methodology to analyse the potential for replication of good tourism practises to help boost their global appropriation.  

Over the coming months, the Observatory will continue its research and analysis of good practises that will respond to this challenge, to then select, along with the advisory council of FiturNext the best practises that will be presented and acknowledged within FITUR 2020.

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