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On Friday, November 23, the City Council of Calella participated in the II edition of the Smart Tourism Congress Barcelona (STCB), an international congress focused on one of the most innovative areas of tourism today: smart tourism.

The event, organized by the Chair of Tourism, Hospitality and Gastronomy CETT-UB, was a meeting place to analyze this phenomenon in depth, focusing on innovation, sustainability, technology and governance with the aim of promoting the exchange of knowledge between related professionals to smart tourism.

During the session, Ferran Muñoz, responsible for Communication 2.0 of the City Council of Calella and project manager of Calella Smart Tourism Destination, presented the first results of the strategy of Calella to become a smart tourist destination (DTI), a project started in 2016 with the support of the Diputació de Barcelona and the participation of Vivential Value, a consultancy specializing in innovation and business intelligence. Calella's smart project arises as a result of the actions included in the Calella 2020 Strategic Plan.

The main objective of the presentation was to explain the use of technology applied to the visitor's experience, and how Calella is using tourism intelligence to better understand the perception of visitors in terms of online reputation. These data allow a redefinition of the tourist profile and the improvement of the tourist competitiveness of our destination, without forgetting the improvement of the quality of life of its citizens in favour of a responsible and sustainable tourism.

The congress on smart tourism

Designed as a biennial congress, this 2018 was held the second edition of the Smart Tourism Congress Barcelona. More than 250 professionals and academics from tourism sector attended the event to address the main trends in smart tourism. The objective of the congress is to generate and transfer ICT knowledge applied to the tourism sector, from the presentation of innovative applications of technology in the sector, as in the case of Calella. During the professional session, the debate on ICT solutions, uses and opportunities is also encouraged, taking into account current and future challenges and the needs of tourism industry.