On Thursday 12 September, Valencia faces its first working day of activity as the European headquarters of the Tourism Visioneer Observatory, the Tourism & Society Think Tank with more than 140, 000 experts in 87 countries. The Valencian association of innovative tourism companies Connect MTA presented to the media (last July 8^th) the manifesto to combat ‘tuirsmophobia’, and both organisations decided to co-found the first International Observatory of Smart Tourism, Regenerative and Circular that incorporates intelligence units specialised in different types of tourism : cruises, wine tourism, bio-tourism, cultural, religious and so on.  At the same time, the aim is to harmonise barometers that measure and collect different sources of data, always incorporating the vision of both tourists and residents.

Both the president of the TSTT, Antonio Santos and Dr. Fernando Molina, co-founders of the Tourism Visioneer Observatory, affirmed that Valencia city has all the ingredients to lead the transformation of a tourism model that relies more on quality and authenticity than on quantity. Having a Tourism Intelligence System led by the City Council and the Visit Valencia Foundation accelerates the evolution of the tourism model by providing data and information based on participatory governance and the use of digital tools.

The Tourism Visioneer Observatory, which begins its first day of work with the I Boot Camp Resitur Valencia DTI, has chosen the setting of the Fallas Artist Museum precisely because of the connotations of this “Barri creatiu”, a space where the Fallas artists build the monuments of the Fallas and despite its importance for the festival, remains largely unknown to tourists visiting the city and many of the residents of Valencia.

The format of the Bootcamp presents three challenges, always with on-site attendance, a limited number of attendees with very different professional perspectives, researchers, public and private professionals, who discover the facilities of the Fallas Artist Museum from the hands of its director María José Luna and its cooperative, chaired by José Devis. This edition wants to contribute with the city in providing concrete proposals on: accelerating the model to a regenerative and circular tourism that improves the impact on young people, entrepreneurs, businesses and residents, incorporating unique experiences based on intelligent routes such as ‘the Way of the Holy Grail’ and the gastronomy of “paella” incorporating spaces of the surrounding land orchard and the metropolitan area of Valencia. And the challenge of using the Fallas festival as a case study to harmonise indicators of impact on residents, tourists and, of course, the participants in the Fallas festival.

The closing ceremony will be held in Colombia with the participation of the president of the TSTT, Antonio Santos and the invitation of José Alejandro González Jaramillo from the Mayor’s Office of Medellín, who has expressed his interest in presenting his city’s candidacy to be the LATAM headquarters of the Tourism Visioneer Observatory.

As Dr. Fernando Molina states: “All this new community of visionaries of the future of tourism, called Tourism Visioneer Community, have in common the belief that regenerative tourism can and must improve the impact on all local communities and above all involve tourists in the purpose of regenerating ecosystems”.

In addition, tomorrow Friday 13th at Caixa Forum Valencia, the Generalitat Valenciana and the Confederation of businessmen of the province of Valencia, chaired by Eva Blasco and Inmaculada de Benito, director of the Tourism, culture and sports department of the CEOE, are also taking action in the city of Valencia with the conference entitled “from listening to making better tourism together”, a highly topical event opened by the President of the CEV Salvador Navarro, the Regional Minister for Innovation, Industry, Trade and Tourism, Nuria Montes, and closed by the Secretary of State for Tourism, Rosario Sánchez.

Report by ‘24/7 Valencia’ team

Article copyright ‘24/7 Valencia’