06.02.2010 - Funded in the main by the Spanish Ministry of Tourism, the initiative wants to transform the local tourism industry.  Two new projects and three programmes are designed to enhance business innovation in the area’s tour­ism industry.  Services included are consulting, helping travel companies to design their product and innovate and advice on how to incorporate new strategies or processes into their existing activities.

The first of the programmes, Re­search Lab is supposed to identify the needs of tourism business manage­ment, market research and technol­ogy.  The first two strategic projects being operated by Research Lab have already begun with funding from cen­tral government of €13.5 million.  The Demo Lab will be launched later in the year.  This initiative will allow tourist businesses to try out various techno­logical solutions that are available in the current market that they may be able to use in their own companies to improve profitability.

There are also new programmes on E-Commerce to show companies how to promote themselves more efficiently and effectively on the Internet and a Consultancy Platform to provide tourism businesses with consulting services.  In total there are 25 public and private companies which will be providing services to 5,000 companies to improve the standard and variety of Andalusian tourism.

Bully for them.  What about the Canaries where the level of unemployment is the high­est in the country and the alternatives to employment in the tourism industry far fewer?



This article appears in the print edition 609 of Island Connections

Gallery: Spanish initiative

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