The Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Tourism has launched a new program of grants aimed at promoting the generation of scientific knowledge applied to tourism.
According government information, the objective of the grants is to promote the search for solutions to the main environmental, economic and technological challenges faced by tourist destinations in Spain, in order to improve their competitiveness and long-term resilience.
These grants are offered to non-profit research and dissemination organizations that have a tax residence or a permanent establishment in Spain. They are included in the modernization and competitiveness plan for the tourism sector, incorporated into the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan financed with post-covid EU funds.
The Official State Gazette (BOE, in its Spanish acronym) published today the order that regulates this call.
According to the BOE, the grants will be awarded to research centers. The amounts will be of a minimum of 20,000 euros and a maximum of 150,000 euros, provided that the projects are in the field of R&D and are not directly engaged in an economic activity.
"The tourism sector is immersed in a profound transformation process that is developing at high speed and on a global scale, marked by two clear trends: digitization and the ecological transition. To continue offering a proposal that distinguishes us from our competitors, Spain must have the best research that allows the development of new capacities oriented to the great present and future challenges ", said the Secretary of State for Tourism, Fernando Valdés.
Digitalization
The proposals submitted to the call must pursue as their ultimate goal the digitalization of tourist destinations and address some of the following challenges:
- Recovery and resilience of the destination: crisis management, scenario simulation, early response strategies, regulations, protocols, labor market and working conditions, tourism company and competitive capacity, etc.
- Sustainable, smart, connected and integrated mobility at the destination.
- Climate change, adaptation and mitigation strategies and measures in the destination; carbon footprint, impact modeling, public and private strategies, etc.
- Sustainability, ecological transition and circular economy in the destination.
- Measurement, modeling and analysis of tourist activity in the destination: management of tourist flows, carrying capacity, overcrowding, economic impacts, development of indicators, predictive analysis, etc.
- Product or process innovation at the destination: tourism innovation, new products and differential tourism experiences, new market segments, new business processes, etc.
- Digitalization: infrastructures and platforms, promotion and commercialization, interaction with the tourist in the destination, tourism without "friction", information management, tourist intelligence and Big Data, Artificial Intelligence, digital twin, etc.
The term for the presentation of applications will be open one month from the publication of the order in the BOE.
The Ministry of Industry, Trade and Tourism has made the following mailbox available to interested parties to answer questions: [email protected]
