FITURTECHY24 will be bringing together the leading industry experts to discuss the future of tourism

FITURTECHY 2024, the leading space dedicated to tourism technology, innovation and sustainability organised by FITUR and the Instituto Tecnológico Hotelero (ITH),will be taking place for the sixteenth time on 24, 25 and 26 January. Under the slogan ‘Desafío Total’ (Total Recall)' and inspired by the 1990 American sci-fi film starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sharon Stone and directed by Paul Verhoeven, FITURTECHY 24 will be presented in Hall 10B03 and its content will be based on four debate forums, in addition to the hotel of the future, #techYhotel.

This section is an industry reference and will open up through its four business forums on sustainability, destination, the future and business in a quest to restore a harmony between convenience, technological efficiency and the human touch, where every interaction is meaningful and personalised. This section will once again feature a Welcome & VIP Area sponsored by the financial institution  Grupo Cooperativo Cajamar. Specifically, the four forums are divided as follows:

Programme of the four FITUR TECHY2024 forums:

#techYnegocio: sponsored by AdQuiver

This forum highlights improvisation and new, never-before experienced AI-driven scenarios, which make forecasting as we know it difficult. Businesses are challenged to deal with technological transformation to recapture the human essence with a focus on people. The profitability of the business will be determined by the ability to adapt to customer needs while technology facilitates operations and provision of services. The hotel industry is all about hospitality. The Business Challenge encompasses the introduction of technology so that people can focus on serving people and rethink existing standards for the future hotel industry.

These questions will be answered by the leading experts participating in #techYnegocio , including the following: Jorge Marichal, President of CEHAT; José Luis Zoreda, Executive vice-president of Exceltur, who will analyse the challenges facing the tourism sector in a dialogue led by Juan Carlos Cavero, Director of Agenttravel. Other participants include Daniel Caro, Chief Data Officer Tourism and Sport Data Office of the Andalusian Regional Government., Dolores Ordoñez, Vice-president of Gaia-X Hub España, Jorge Núñez, CEO of AdQuiver, Daniel Iglesias, Research Director at NECSTourR, Lasse Rouhiainen, International Keynote speaker on Artificial Intelligence, Miguel Villaroya, General Manager of Spring Hoteles, Julio Pérez, CEO of Grupo Piñero hotels, Juan Carlos de León, CEO of GF Hoteles; Federico Fuster, CEO of Climahotels; José Rodríguez Pousa, CEO of Serco Hotel Group; Alberto Bernabé, Senior Advisor at PWC; Jaime Chicheri, Revenue Manager at Personas, among others.

#techYfuturo: sponsored by American Express

The  #techYfuturo forum on technology and the future will be showing how innovation and creativity are impacting the development of this industry through robotisation and artificial intelligence and how the humanisation of technology can accelerate tourism and thus have a positive impact on society.

Some of the sector’s leading experts will be talking about all of this, including: Álvaro Carrillo de Albornoz, Managing director of ITH; Sergio Zertuche, Chief Sales & Markerting Officer at Palladium Hotel Group; José Serrano, CEO of IZO España; Ignacio Ochoa, Director of E-commerce, Contact Centres & Digital Marketing at Iberostar, Federica Ilaria Fornaciari, Global Executive Vice-president of WAM Global, Isaac Vidal, Chief Sales & Marketing Officer at AR Hotels & Resorts; Julia López, Vice-President & General Manager of Merchant Services at American Express Spain, María Zarraluqui, Global Development Vice-president of Meliá Hotels International, Eduardo Maiza, Experiences & Partnership director at UMusic Hotels, Carlos Erburu, Cluster General Manager at Thompson Madrid & Hyatt Centric Madrid; Begoña Villacís, Global Institutional Relations Director at BeDisruptive, Juan Torres, Techology Strategist Travel & Hospitality at Microsoft; Lola Vilas Country Manager of Uber Spain; Guillermo Rojo, High-performance athlete, researcher and exercise coach focused on astronaut fitness at the Austrian Space Forum and the Lunares Research Center.

#techYsostenibilidad: sponsored by Dinapsis

The application of appropriate technology and innovation gains relevance in this forum on sustainability as it can create a key differentiating factor in the service provided to the customer and, in addition, can help the tourism sector to better manage resources related to caring for the environment and society, which has an impact on the preservation of the future of our planet and, therefore, a greater alignment with the Sustainable Development Goals.

To this end, it will feature the most influential voices in the field such as: Luis Quevedo, Scientific journalist and writer at Sulion; Ana Muñoz, Deputy Director General for Tourism Development and Sustainability of the Secretary of State for Tourism; Charo Izquierdo, Journalist Woman Action Sustainability (WAS); Isabel Piñero, Chief Sustainability Officer (CSO) at Grupo Piñero and Bahía Príncipe; Inma de Benito, Director of Tourism at CEOE; Helena Burstedt, Head of Hotels at Alisenda Inmobiliaria (Blackstone Group) and President of Mujeres Hospitality; Susan Deer, Director of Industry Relations at ABTA-the Travel Agency; Manuel Butler, Director of the Spanish Tourist Board office in London Turespaña; Elena Galante, director of the Sustainable Mobility Observatory; Teresa Parejo, Sustainability director at Iberia; Ana Salazar, Sustainability director at AENA; Manuel Villalante, Managing director of development and strategy at RENFE; and Pedro Pierluisi, Governor of Puerto Rico are just some of the participants.

#techYchallenge: sponsored by Maarlab

The forum dedicated to technology and destinations will be presenting the new challenges and trends in travel and the keys to innovative and integrated destination management. In a constantly evolving sector, it is essential to be at the forefront of technologies related to tourism management and promotion, without forgetting the human factor that is so important and so characteristic of tourism.

A whole host of industry professionals will be participating in the forum, such as Jorgina Díaz, President of PTE Robótica; Elena Muñoz, Digital Brand Manager at Only You Hotels;  Francisco García, CISO at Palladium Hotel Group; Jesús Mérida, CISO for Iberia; Jesús Feliz, Manager of strategic sectors at INCIBE; Jesús Herrero, Head of the tourism markets at Tecnalia; José Luis Bezares, Deputy director-general for Cybersecurity at the  Ministry of Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation; Raúl Dominguez, CEO of Maarlab; Juan Gómez, Head of Market Intelligence at Forward Keys; Celia Romero, CEO of Inteligencia Turística; Natalia Bayona, Executive director of the UNWTO; Pablo Rodríguez, Revenue Manager of the magazine Viajar; Blanca Pérez-Sauquillo, Deputy director-general for external tourism marketing at Turespaña; Sergio Barreda, President of the Influencers Committee of IAB Spain; Isidoro Tenorio, Digital communication and events coordinator at AEDH; Arturo Bernal, Minister of Tourism, Culture and Sports of the Andalusian Regional Government; Nuria Montes, Minister of Innovation, Industry, Trade and Tourism of the Generalitat Valenciana; Marta Domènech, General Director of Tourism of the Generalitat de Catalunya and Javier García Cuenca, President of the ITH.

#techYdestino will be hosting the 7th edition of the AMT Smart Destinations Awards 2024 to be held on 25 January from 4pm where the mayors of the eight municipalities of the AMT will present the corresponding awards to finalists and winners.

#techandhotel

This is the showroom that will revealing the cutting-edge innovations with which visitors will be able to interact. More than 50 of the industry’s leading companies will be showcasing these innovative and technologically advanced solutions together. They are collaborating together with the Hotel Technological Institute to present this recreation of the "hotel of the future".

Check the FITURTECH 2024 programme in detail.

About ITH

ITH is the hotel industry's response to the challenges that technological advances pose for entrepreneurs in the tourism industry. With eighteen years of history, the mission of this innovation centre, a member of the Spanish Confederation of Hotels and Tourist Accommodation (CEHAT), is to promote the use of new technologies and management systems that contribute to improving the competitiveness, profitability, quality, efficiency and sustainability of companies linked to the hotel and tourism industry.