Five years have passed since the creation of Intelligent Tourism Destinations (ITDs), a Spain-made management model that, using indicators like sustainability, innovation, accessibility, and governance, shapes the steps a municipality takes in this field through collaboration and active participation from every stakeholder. The aim is to standardize parameters so that progress can be measured and tourism can evolve as an economic engine while not neglecting essential areas.
The province of Alicante, led by Benidorm, quickly became a benchmark, and ITDs formed the foundation of local tourism policies. Today, more than thirty towns follow this methodology. But how does theory translate into practice?
That question underpinned a 2021 study by five researchers from the Department of Business Organization at the University of Alicante. They assessed the “Impact of the ITD model on the competitiveness of Valencia Community hotels.” Two researchers, Jorge Pereira and Juan José Tarí, presented the findings at Invattur in Benidorm. Through interviews and surveys involving 268 establishments, they confirmed that higher ITD development in a municipality correlates with greater profitability.
The report is public and highlights differences between hotels located in ITD towns and those outside. In its first phase, researchers examined management, innovation, technology, accessibility, and sustainability—five pillars of the model—and in a second phase, focused on market segmentation. The latter part contains profitability parameters.
Jorge Pereira highlighted the best occupancy and profitability results. Hotels in ITD towns achieved a 72.73% occupancy rate, while those outside reached only 57.81%. In terms of profitability, the RevPAR (Revenue per Available Room) gap was similarly notable, at 80.85% versus 57.81%.
Synergies and Obligations
Additional improvements were seen in the synergies created across hotel departments. Under top leadership, other areas became interconnected, and these, in turn, proposed value-adding ideas. In short, management became more productive. The report notes that as destinations develop the ITD model—there are three levels—profitability rises. Behind this measurement lie factors such as stronger competitive advantage and lower costs.
The Invattur-presented findings benefitted from Hosbec’s collaboration. Its Head of Big Data, Beatriz Hernández, described the report as a guide for steering evolution. She added that the weakest area is accessibility in hotels, not merely due to architectural barriers but in the broader sense of inclusion.
Moreover, the model shows higher success for hotels part of chains, prompting Hosbec to deepen training for managers with comprehensive knowledge across all pillars.
The ultimate goal is to promote a new accreditation system—the Intelligent Tourism Enterprise (ITE)—linked to data analysis and integrated management under sustainability, economic, environmental, and social parameters.
For researchers, the best starting point is recognizing that for some time the hospitality sector in the Community has worked with quality models, making it easier to adopt new methodologies and standards.