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The World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) has launched the world’s largest tourism start-up competition.
In partnership with Globalia, a tourism group in Spain and Latin America with a turnover of over €3.57bn in 2016, and a presence in more than 20 countries, UNWTO is reaching out to the tourism sectors across 164 countries with this pioneering initiative. The first UNWTO Tourism Start-up Competition, which was announced in late June, is the world’s first and largest initiative aimed at identifying new companies that will lead the transformation of the tourism sector. According to UNWTO, the objective of the programme is to select the best solutions and the most disruptive projects. “The search will focus on finding pioneering proposals for implementation of emerging and disruptive technologies, as well as on start-ups based on new business models, such as the circular economy. In this regard, one of the pillars of this competition is to give visibility to projects that are committed to enhancing sustainability in tourism.”
The 20 runners-up will be awarded the opportunity to pitch at the official celebrations of World Tourism Day (WTD) on September 27 in Budapest. Each will receive a fully sponsored trip to present their initiative to the jury, governments, industry leaders and international investors attending WTD. Following the initial pitch, 10 finalists will be selected, who will receive sponsored participation at Fitur, the International Tourism Trade Fair, from January 24-27, 2019, in Madrid. This fully sponsored trip will give start-ups a fully sponsored trip to access four days of networking, mentoring and events. Over 200 000 participants from hundreds of countries will be able to network over these four days. At the end, the winning start-up will receive the opportunity to design a pilot project with Globalia, working closely with the organisation’s brands including Air Europa, travel agency Halcón Viajes, tour operator Travelplan, Be Live, and Groundforce and others.
UNWTO Secretary-General, Zurab Pololikashvili, says: “Innovation and tourism investment are not ends in themselves; they are a means to develop better tourism products, to improve the governance of tourism and to make the most of the proven sustainability of tourism, by creating jobs and generating opportunities.”
CEO of Globalia, Javier Hidalgo, affirms his company’s support of this initiative. “As a global tourism group, we want to offer the winners the opportunity to work with us and transform the sector together.”
To participate, start-ups are required to present business models related to at least one of the four main areas: the future of travel; the tourism experience; environmental impact; and community development. Projects will be evaluated according to five criteria: uniqueness and viability of the solution; potential impact; business model; scalability; and team profile. Competition winners will have the opportunity to be a part of the leading companies in the tourism sector.
Source: tourismupdate.co.za