Spain's Minister of Industry and Tourism advocates for continued investment in digital transformation processes
At the closing ceremony of the last Segittur congress, Jordi Hereu spoke in depth about digitalisation being one of the keys to a smooth transition from reactive to proactive tourism.
Digital transformation poses a great challenge for our country’s tourism industry, but it also brings with it a whole host of opportunities, as it helps to improve competitiveness, professionalisation, marketing and efficiency, at the same time as enabling the sustainable development of tourism, according to Segittur, a state-owned trading company dependent on the Ministry of Industry and Tourism and responsible for tourism innovation.
At the closing ceremony of the Segittur congress 'Tourism and technology: an alliance for excellence', the Minister of Industry and Tourism, Jordi Hereu, stressed the need to deepening digitalisation as one of the keys that contribute to boosting the modernisation, competitiveness and sustainability of the tourism industry, enabling its transition from reactive to proactive tourism. Hereu highlighted the importance of continuing to invest in digital transformation processes that assist SMEs and destinations to modernise their businesses and move from a volume-based model to a value-based one.
During his speech, the minister recalled that Segittur is working on the creation of the Smart Destination Platform (SDP), a project with which Spain aims to place itself at the forefront of tourism countries using digitalisation to improve the tourism experience, and which represents the largest sectoral digitalisation process in destinations and companies carried out in the country.
Hereu also focused on the importance of European funds earmarked for the digital transformation of the industry. This aid, materialised in programmes such as the Last Mile programme, has served to support the competitiveness of companies and improve the intelligence applied to the management, promotion, sustainability, enhancement and dissemination of destinations.
50% of SMEs are digitalised
The digital transition of tourism has been one of the main objectives and axes of the Plan for the Modernization and Competitiveness of the Tourism Sector, endowed with 3.4 billion euros from the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan. A comprehensive tourism strategy based on triple sustainability (economic, social and environmental) which has positioned Spain as a leader in innovative tourism policies.
In this regard, according to the 2nd Report on the Degree of Digitalisation of Tourism SMEs in Spain, drawn up by the Secretary of State for Tourism at the end of 2024, the level of digitalisation of our tourism SMEs has risen by more than 16 points, with almost 50% of them having gone digital. The survey, in which more than 2,500 tourism businesses participated, reflects the intense pace of digitisation of micro and small businesses in the industry, with the level of digitisation growing by 50% in one year.