Two AIR Institute projects recognized for contribution to the innovative development of tourism

By The AIR Institute

Two AIR Institute projects appear in the third edition of the Catalogue of Technological Solutions for Smart Tourist Destinations, an initiative of the Secretary of State for Tourism, managed by SEGITTUR. The initiative aims to implement a new model of development and competitiveness in the sector.

Our projects appear in the 2023 catalog along with more than 300 other solutions and services from companies, aimed at the management of smart destinations. Within the scope of application provided by DTI we have been classified according to sustainability, technology and Covid-19. The projects selected in this scope are CO-APS and a solution for Tourism Carrying Capacity Balancing via Blockchain.

Co-APS

This is a platform that implements mobile technology to collect anonymized user data, open city data and third-party service data to provide relevant crowd and density information to public transport operators and city authorities. This solution has been developed to improve tourism confidence regarding COVID-19 propagation.

CO-APS is the result of a project co-funded by the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT), a European Union agency, within the Horizon 2020 Program. We have participated in its development together with the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC), UITP (International Association of Public Transport), Sparsity Technologies, Karditsa, the City of Istanbul, Sofia Development Association, EGTC Efxini Poli - Network of European Cities for Sustainable, and TMB (Transports Metropolitans de Barcelona).

For the demonstration of Co-Aps functions, the My-TRAC application and technology will be used. For this purpose, several pilot locations have been set up in the cities of Barcelona, Istanbul, Sofia and Karditsa. 

Tourism Carrying Capacity Balancing via Blockchain

This is another of the projects featured in the 2023 catalog. An initiative that aims to balance the flow of tourism and promote the sustainable use of natural resources. The solution is based on a decentralized system that incentivizes locals and tourists to direct their visits to less visited areas using blockchain and smart contracts.

Our tool for balancing tourism carrying capacity won the Tourism Sector Challenge posed by Alastria/TDDS during the Transfiere 2020 Forum, in collaboration with the Island Council of Formentera.

The system uses oracles (a service through which a blockchain or a smart contract is fed with information external to the blockchain on which it is executed) to obtain information from the Tourism Intelligence System (SIT) of the Island Council of Formentera, where the pilot test is being carried out, deployed on the Alastria Network.

Data sources:

  • Information from the Tourism Intelligence System (SIT).
  • Capacity control and tourist presence (Seeketing).
  • Weather forecast. Traffic data (cars, flights, port).
  • Information on events (culture, sports, etc.).

Artificial Intelligence models based on Digital Twins:

  • Detection of users who have changed the flow, the area to which they belong and the specific incentive.
  • Prediction of flows and tourist occupancy based on intelligent agents (simulations using Digital Twins).
  • Recommendation of points of interest within the island to optimize the capacity balance.

The system is capable of detecting users who have changed the flow, the area to which they belong and the specific incentive (establishment, event, museum, bus trip, etc.).