TIS – Tourism Innovation Summit has held the Tourism Innovation Awards 2021 awards gala, which recognize those ideas and projects that, based on technological innovation and sustainability, respond to the current challenges of the tourism sector and boost the competitiveness of companies.
MSC Cruises has received the Telefónica Award for Best User Experience for their MSC Starship Club project, featuring a robotic humanoid bartender offering his best cocktails, revolutionizing the traditional bar experience. The finalists in this category have been NH Hotel Group for innovating the hotel lobby experience and offering a varied leisure offer on site, and TUI Musement, with its hyper-personalization project in the offer of tourist tours.
Galgus received the Amadeus Award for Best Innovation in Artificial Intelligence and Data Analytics in recognition of its solution capable of reliably locating and tracking most devices in the vicinity of a WiFi access point, without the need to connect to the network. In the same category competed the Ministry of Tourism of Saudi Arabia, for its conversion of the statistical information center into a modern tourist intelligence center (ICT), and with Planet Happiness, an index of stability of destinations and their inhabitants to control the well-being of local inhabitants.
The Caixabanka Award for Best Digital Innovation has been directed to the Fusió d’Arts Technology (Visualfy) project, for its social work by creating technological solutions that favor accessibility in public and private spaces for deaf and hard of hearing people. OD Hotels was a finalist with its NFT-powered One-Time Digital Artwork Project, along with the We Travel Hub, which enables the creation of their own search monitor for travel content creators.
The project to convert organic waste in organic compost from Garden Hotels, With the aim of producing compost for the production of organic agriculture in the Balearic Islands, it has been awarded the Mastercard Award for the Best Sustainable Tourism Project. Garden Hotels competed with Outdooractive AG and its initiative to unify legislative information against natural damages in the destination, and with Singular Places for its management in the organization of sustainable trips.
Cruise Saudi has received the Globant Award for Best New Business Model. Its cruise promotion project, turning Saudi Arabia into a recognized cruise destination, has competed with UpStay’s automated upselling solution and Sharify’s collaborative map of event offerings and leisure plans.
Finally, this year the Tourism Innovation Awards 2021 have awarded a new award aimed at recognizing the collaboration between international tourist destinations to promote a new, more sustainable, digitized and innovative tourism model. A recognition that Seville and Barcelona have received with the City Sightseeing Worldwide Award for the Partnership between Destinations.
