The DEPLOYTOUR consortium, a collaborative effort of 43 partners from 13 European countries, officially kicked off its ambitious project to revolutionise the tourism industry. The launch event, held in Palma de Mallorca, constituted a crucial step forward in the development of a Common European Tourism Data Space.

The project aims to address the long-standing challenge of fragmented and inaccessible tourism data by creating a common platform where data from various stakeholders can be shared and utilised effectively. By harnessing the power of data, DEPLOYTOUR will enable more personalised, sustainable, and efficient tourism experiences.

To achieve its goals, DEPLOYTOUR will focus on five key pilot projects:

1. Sustainable Tourism Management in Alpine Regions: Leveraging AI and data analytics to promote eco-friendly tourism practices and reduce environmental impact (Austria-Slovenia).
2. Resilience and Competitiveness in Mature Destinations: Utilising data insights to enhance the sustainability and competitiveness of popular destinations like the Canary Islands, Andalusia, and the Balearic Islands (Spain).
3. Supporting the MICE Industry: Developing AI-driven tools to optimise business travel and event planning in regions like Paris.
4. Leveraging Cultural Heritage for Tourism Diversification: Using data to revitalise cultural heritage sites and attract a wider range of visitors, as exemplified by Syros Island (Greece).
5. Empowering SMEs in Tourism: Creating a collaborative platform to connect SMEs with innovative TravelTech solutions and data resources, particularly in regions like Lapland (Finland).

DEPLOYTOUR is a 15.3-million-euro project, co-funded by the European Union and coordinated by AnySolution, a leading expert in data collaboration and European tourism initiatives. Over 36 months, the project aims to develop a common, trusted, and secure European infrastructure for tourism data. DEPLOYTOUR will enhance collaboration to help tackle recurrent challenges met by the tourism industry: aligning offers with tourists’ expectations, adapting service proposals to new tourist groups, predicting high tourist influxes, facilitating more efficient resource planning, and potentially creating new business opportunities.

During this three-year project, DEPLOYTOUR aims to engage connections through forums, workshops, and events, involving tourism and data stakeholders to join the discussion and contribute to the initiative’s development, ensuring its sustainability. The consortium brings together a diverse range of partners, including SMEs, tourism companies, data companies, national ministries, universities, research centers, technology companies, regional administrations, networks, associations, tourism data spaces and consulting firms.

The consortium is composed of:

• SMEs (AnySolution, Arctur, AdQuiver, Unparallel Innovation)
• Tourism companies (Avoris, Amadeus, Trenitalia)
• Data companies (Amadeus Data Processing, The Data Appeal Company)
• National Ministries (Italy, Greece, Austria, Portugal)
• Universities (Politecnico di Milano (Polimi), University of the Balearic Islands, Lapland University of Applied Sciences, Universidade NOVA de Lisboa)
• Research centres (Industry Innovation Cluster Slovakia, RISE Research Institutes of Sweden, Instituto Tecnológico de Informática, Fundación Tecnalia Research & Innovation, Informatica Intelligent Cloud Services (IICS))
• Tech companies (NTT DATA, GMV Soluciones Globales Internet, Plextec, Hiberus IT Development Services, Libelium, Uni Systems Systimata)
• Regional administrations (TURAND, BOHIN)
• Networks and associations (NECSTouR, City Destinations Alliance, EF, FIWARE, Pleiades Cluster)
• Consulting companies (Intellera, DISSET Consultors)
• Transport, Mobility and Tourism Data Space (EONA-X)

The event at Mallorca featured a range of distinguished speakers who shared their insights on the future of tourism. Rehana Schwinningeng-Ladak from DG Connect highlighted the European Commission’s commitment to digital innovation in the tourism sector. Sebastián González from the Balearic Islands Government emphasised the region’s pioneering role in adopting data-driven solutions. Dolores Ordóñez from AnySolutionpresented the ambitious goals of the DEPLOYTOUR project, aiming to create a unified European Tourism Data Space. Agnieszka Bajno, project manager at the European Health and Digital Executive Agency (HaDEA), detailed how DEPLOYTOUR aligns with the European Commission‘s priorities on digitisation, innovation and sustainable tourism. Bruno Castro fromDG Growth outlined the EU’s priorities for sustainable and competitive tourism, while Antonio López de Ávila from UN Tourism (UNWTO) provided a global perspective on the challenges and opportunities facing the industry.

This project is co-funded by the European Digital Europe Programme, supported by DG GROW and DG CONNECT. It is built on the blueprint developed by two preparatory actions for the European Tourism Data Space (ETDS), DATES and DSFT, which defined the foundations of the Common European Data Space for Tourism. The European Data Strategy aims to establish common data spaces to support efficient data sharing among ecosystem stakeholders. Through a wide variety of stakeholders, the DEPLOYTOUR project consortium and its partners will strive to represent the diversity of interests of the tourism ecosystem.