Fitur Know-How & Export to Tackle Digital Transformation of the Travel Industry
The digital transformation of the tourism industry will be at the center of the 6th staging of Fitur Know-How & Export, an initiative organized by SEGITTUR and FITUR in collaboration with ICEX Spain Trade and Investment, seeking to drive forward the exportation of Spanish tourism knowledge.
Fitur Know-How & Export, which will be staged as part of FITUR 2018 from 17 to 19 January 2018, will occupy a 1,600 m2 exhibition space in Hall 10 of Feria de Madrid, where a smart tourist destination will be simulated in which technologies associated with digital transformation will take center stage.
This area will also feature 40 exhibitor companies with innovative solutions for tourism in all its facets – hotel management, strategic consultancy, promotion, marketing, new products and services, etc.
This initiative seeks to support the internationalization of Spanish tourism companies, which have the opportunity to showcase their potential and announce their innovative services and products to other international markets.
Novelties
One of the main novelties at this staging is the creation of two spaces, one devoted to showing how virtual reality can help the tourism industry, where visitors can enjoy first-hand the experience of travelling before the actual trip through different solutions.
The second space –the Start-up Area- will be devoted to giving visibility to tourism projects in which new technologies are crucial, developed by start-ups which go hand in hand with the major accelerators.
SEGITTURLab, ideas laboratory
In addition, and given the success of the first staging, we will again feature SEGITTURLab, an ideas laboratory where various practical workshops will be held for tourism entrepreneurs and professionals. Maximum capacity will be for 20 people with prior registration.
Among the workshops due to be held are “Blockchain applied to tourism”; “The digital tourist’s customer journey”; “Virtual reality” or “Chatbot applications in tourism”.
We will also have a personalized advisory service with multilateral bodies thanks to the collaboration of ICEX Spain Trade and Investment, which will also participate in the auditorium in the Smart Talks devoted to supporting the internationalization of Spanish tourism companies.
Smart Talks
As part of the Smart Talks program we will analyze different aspects associated with digital transformation, discussing from chatbots to cybersecurity and from blockchains to virtual reality. We will also discuss different aspects to do with the development of smart tourist destinations and the tourism intelligence system.
Lastly we will present success cases of tourism entrepreneurs drawn from the different calls in the Emprendetur financing line. There will also be a session devoted to explaining how a start-up can be accepted by an accelerator.
During Fitur Know-how & Export, the Tourist App Guide 2018 will be presented and also the prizes of “The AppTourism Awards 2018”, organized jointly by SEGITTUR and FITUR.
FITUR 2018 will host the 9th staging of INVESTOUR
FITUR 2018 will yet another year become the stage for the 9th Tourism Investment and Business Forum for Africa, INVESTOUR, organized jointly by FITUR, the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) and Casa Africa. This event, a full-day session on Thursday 18 January, will discuss some of the most pertinent topics for the African continent, prominent among them the situation of the Africa Brand and its impact on the African continent’s tourism.
As in previous stagings, the Investour Forum will cover two sessions, respectively holding two round tables and B2B business meetings.
The first table will debate on “Africa Brand: promoting tourism development and investment opportunities”. It will provide an interesting context in which to share already-adopted political measures to successfully manage a destination’s brand.
The second round table, with the title of “biodiversity as the driver of sustainable tourism: the importance of the community’s effective participation”, will identify an integrated approach to harmonize sustainable tourism with the protection of biodiversity, and will put emphasis on how to involve the local community in the efforts to conserve biodiversity. In this regard, the forum will also become a space for exploring and drafting well-established policies committed to developing sustainable tourism, maximizing the benefits of investment and improving public and private collaboration.
The INVESTOUR Forum will also operate as an inclusive platform that will gather together and bring into contact political heads, international investors seeking business opportunities in the African market and project titleholders so that they can explore different and innovative ways of increasing investments in the tourism industry and in other fields of the tourism value chain with the aim of encouraging specific initiatives that contribute to developing the tourism industry in Africa.
