Tourism, Spain’s main driver of income and jobs, is one of the sectors hardest hit by this pandemic; it now needs to tackle one of the stiffest challenges in its history. As in other sectors, technology is coming into its own in this endeavor, helping to bring about a safer, quicker and more customer-centered recovery.

Last June, to address this situation, representatives from the tourism sector and the technology world came together in a discussion panel under the title” Technological innovation, the vaccine for a safe tourism” to take stock of the sector’s current state, the problems it faces and the technological solutions within the reach of one and all.

Álvaro Carrillo de Albornoz, CEO of Spain’s Technological Hospitality Institute (Instituto Tecnológico Hotelero: ITH), sketched in the sector’s current climate of uncertainty and explained how ITH and the Spanish Confederation of Tourism Accommodation and Hotels (Confederación Española de Hoteles y Alojamientos Turísticos: CEHAT) have laid down protocols to minimize pandemic contagion risks within the tourism sector and help Spain become a technologically safe tourism destination seen as trustworthy by tourists.

Tomeu Fiol, Global Hotel Technologies Director at Meliá Hotels International, talked about the hospitality sector’s experience in this time of swingeing changes, stressing customer contact as one of the aspects most likely to change from here on in. Governments and associations have stressed the need for minimum contact between customers and hotel staff, but this entails forfeiting a key aspect of customer satisfaction: this is where digitization needs to step up to the plate.

For some years now technology has been a staunch ally of the tourism sector, offering digital clients a more personalized, accessible and efficient experience. Seventy percent of tourists use technology applications when planning and making their trips. These apps improve the customer experience and boost safety, introducing such features as occupancy control, facial recognition, contactless applications: digital keys, online check in, but there is now a need too for safety/security measures to head off any entry vectors for cyber attacks.

Addressing this issue, Joan Antoni Malonda, GMV’s Tourism Business Developer, mentioned the sharp increase in malware campaigns since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, especially in the form of spear phishing, with the consequent theft of client credit-card data, customer loyalty data and other personal data, exploiting these moments of user vulnerability.

To wind up, Jesús Vega presented the data- and channel-protection solutions being offered by Imperva, including EDGE app security, network app security with a classic web application firewall (WAF), security of applications built into the app itself and security of the data strictly speaking, not forgetting GDPR compliance.

To see the complete webinar (in Spanish):

Innovación Tecnológica, la vacuna para un turismo seguro (ITH, Meliá and GMV)

Protección de aplicaciones tecnológicas para el sector turismo (Imperva)