TURINGRANADA: Portuguese technology company Ubiwhere transforms Granada into a Smart Destination

The city of Granada is taking a decisive step towards establishing itself as a Smart Destination of international reference. Aware of the economic, social and cultural importance that the tourism sector represents for the region and the global competition that it faces, especially in a post-pandemic period, the city of Granada is moving forward with the TURINGRANADA project.

The project that now begins will be responsible for the digitalization of the entire regional tourism sector. It will focus on the components of digital support for tourist information, the creation of avant-garde and latest generation content, and consumer behaviour analysis, supported by a platform for data aggregation and monitoring of the destination’s performance.

Ubiwhere, a Portuguese company of reference in the Smart Cities field was chosen by Granada in an international public tender (promoted by Red.Es) to develop all the technology involved in the TURINGRANADA project. The Ubiwhere proposal stood out for placing its Urban Platform at the service of the city. This powerful and aggregating tool will integrate systems and verticals with different levels of digitalization maturity. In this way, it will enable the management of the performance of the tourism sector and its economic and social impact on the territory through a single screen.

What to expect from the TURINGRANADA project?

One Destination. One Platform:

The most significant innovation of the TURINGRANADA project is reflected in the use of the Ubiwhere Urban Platform for the management of the smart destination. Once developed and implemented, it will allow to aggregate and correlate all the information coming from the supports and tools now created, but also from other data sources that, directly or indirectly, impact the Tourism sector, regardless of the level of digitalization maturity. Much of the data and information generated will be made available on an open data portal, serving as a powerful tool for other tourism stakeholders to take an active part in the project and contribute and take advantage of the available information.

All this will make it possible to obtain a clear and unified understanding of the most determinant variables for Granada’s tourism performance and print corrections to promote a safe and sustained improvement in the information.

Digital support for tourist information:

Ubiwhere will develop a web portal for the digital promotion of the destination, supported by a content management platform. By accessing the portal and through the mobile App provided for that purpose, tourists will be able to plan their stay in Grenada and obtain information and audiovisual content of relevant interest, adding value to their tourist experience.

Cutting-edge content and enhancement of the tourist experience:

We will provide digital content of high impact, and user immersion will be developed and made available, referring to Granada’s attractions and heritage elements. It includes the development of 360º photography, 4K and 8K video production and Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality content, with the potential to differentiate and stand out to the public that is intended to be attracted or that is already loyal to the destination.

Consumer behaviour:

Granada will invest in the integrated development of a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) tool to generate more agile, reliable, and centralised metrics. It will evaluate the tourist/consumer behaviour, articulated and interactive with digital mechanisms for evaluating the tourist’s perspective (e.g. Google Analytics, Facebook, TripAdvisor, etc.) and with a system of satisfaction surveys.

Granada, one of the jewels of Tourism in Andalusia, welcomes thousands of tourists every year. Official figures from the city reveal an upward trend in tourist flows every year, peaking in 2019 at almost 2 million visitors, representing more than 3.5 million overnight stays. Of these, more than half are of international origin, a proportion consolidating year by year.

This search for differentiation and increased competitiveness that the city of Granada launched itself into this project, assuming the clear ambition to be a Smart Destination of reference in the Iberian Peninsula:

- To increase the economic and social benefits arising from the Tourism sector;

- To consolidate the national and international positioning of Granada as a province with its own identity, with a complete and varied tourist offer and with attractive and leisure experiences;

- To maintain the competitive position of Granada as a multi-segmented tourist destination with a wide range of tourist products;

- To increase the efficiency of tourist management through administrative coordination and public-private collaboration are the objectives assumed by the Diputación de Granada that advocate this initiative.

The Portuguese technology company Ubiwhere, winner of the international public tender and which was awarded the work associated with the project’s technological development, reviews the ambition that the city of Granada advocates with this step to become a Smart Destination. For Nuno Ribeiro, co-CEO of Ubiwhere, the TURINGRANADA project "is a milestone in the Smart Tourism initiatives that, little by little, are appearing. It is an integrated project, in which Ubiwhere has been involved in the first hour, which conceives the necessary involvement of local authorities, private tourism operators and consumers, representing the necessary step to have more qualified tourist destinations and be aware of their reality. In short, more intelligent destinations".

The TURINGRANADA project will last 24 months, and the first outputs will already be available in early 2022.