Page 12 - Smart tourism: A path to more secure and resilient destinations

Technology and digitization are powerful tools for moving towards a tourism industry capable of
ensuring its resilience in any scenario (UNWTO, 2019).

1.1 Steps and technologies for dealing with crises

The sector's ability to cope with crises is critical to the economic development and sustainability of
tourist destinations. Tourism is critical for the economy overall, with the COVID-19 global pandemic,
there was a 70 per cent loss in GDP due to the tourism decline alone. Ensuring this resilience in
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the face of threats requires collaboration between the private sector, and municipal, regional and
national authorities to define and implement the necessary measures and instruments conducive to
preparing for, as well as managing and recovering from, the crisis, while building visitor confidence
and enhancing the reputation of tourist destinations. Of particular importance has been the
coordination with national authorities between health and tourism during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The first step lies in identifying and understanding the threats to building a resilient tourism approach
to operate and thrive in this dynamic, diverse and global environment. Crisis preparedness should
be geared towards generating resilience strategies with the participation of all sectors, including
tourism, where the capacity of people and infrastructure to face possible threats is analysed, and
developing monitoring and prediction tools based on analytical models and digital twins that
allow early anticipation of the arrival of the crisis, simulate its effects and recreate de-escalation
decision scenarios.

Effective and rapid crisis response management requires solutions, services and systems that help
to respond in an agile and coordinated manner to the needs of the population, including visitors,
to optimize the mobilization of resources in a dynamic manner according to the circumstances
of each territory and city. Technologies such as blockchain, robotics and artificial intelligence (AI)
ensure secure supply chains, distribute resources and care for patients and affected people in a
safe manner.

The sector also needs information tools that communicate the reality transparently and in a timely
fashion to reassure citizens and tourists, using various digital channels (such as apps and bots) and
ensuring the veracity of messages in the face of cybersecurity attacks. It is also essential to have
teleworking tools to assist the function of professionals in the sector, in addition to educational
platforms, entertainment and tourist, and cultural content that will help relieve the confinement and
generate a desire to travel again, once normality is restored post COVID-19, using Virtual Reality
(VR) and advanced digital portals.

1 UNWTO, “The Economic Contribution of Tourism and the Impact of COVID-19”, https:// www .e -unwto .org/ doi/ 10 .18111/
9789284423200

2 Smart tourism: A path to more secure and resilient destinations