Hereu addresses the G20 on the need to boost digitisation and AI to achieve inclusive and sustainable tourism

The Minister for Industry and Tourism, Jordi Hereu, during his speech at the first plenary session of the G20 Tourism Ministers' Summit

In his speech at the plenary session, Minister Hereu highlighted Spain's leadership as one of the pioneering countries in developing key aspects of tourism digitalisation applied to crisis prevention and management and innovation at the service of social sustainability. Hereu considers that our country is a benchmark in strengthening the ecosystem of small and medium-sized tourism companies through digital transformation.

The Minister for Tourism has expressed to his G20 counterparts that digital innovation - one of the axes on which the South African summit has revolved - is an unwavering commitment of the Government of Spain and a reflection of the commitment of our country to meeting the Sustainable Development Goals established by the UN. Proof of this, detailed the minister, are the milestones achieved in recent years, with central government investment of more than 337 million euros to launch, in June of this year, the Smart Destination Platform to continue developing the network of Smart Tourist Destinations and to make the Last Mile projects a reality to digitalise the management and promotion of destinations.

Importance of the social side of tourism

In his speech, Minister Hereu referred to social sustainability, another of the keys to the Spanish strategy that will articulate tourism in the future. A social aspect of tourism that revolves around three fundamental axes: territorial diversity (promoting the heterogeneity of destinations, as opposed to the monoculture of previous eras); the measurement of social impact (aimed at reducing inequalities and preserving the cultural and historical heritage of destinations); and female leadership and equal access to positions of responsibility in the sector.

In his speech, Hereu also stressed the importance of air connectivity as an engine of territorial development to improve the redistribution of the benefits of tourism. In this regard, the Spanish Tourism Minister highlighted the value of integrating crisis management into these connectivity policies, given the proliferation of adverse natural phenomena such as fires and floods.

The final declaration incorporates a number of requests from Spain

Jordi Hereu also thanked the international community present at the G20 meeting for the fact that the final declaration of the summit incorporates several requests expressly made by Spain.

Among them, one is related to the need for tourism policies to move from a focus on visitor numbers to a focus on long-term value and impact, prioritising the triple bottom line of sustainability. Hereu recalled that Spain has already incorporated this aspect and that it is reflected in the future Spain 2030 Tourism Strategy, the philosophy and objectives of which were put forward by the minister at this meeting.

Furthermore, the final declaration also includes the Spanish request to generate a new statistical framework at an international level to be able to clearly measure the impact of tourism's contribution to the sustainable economic growth of countries.

As a summary and balance of Spain's position on tourism at this summit of the 20 most developed economies on the planet, Hereu highlighted Spain's commitment to solid, collaborative international tourism governance geared towards sustainable human development.

The Spanish delegation to South Africa, which was led by the minister and the Secretary of State for Tourism, Rosario Sánchez, had intense institutional activity with bilateral meetings with representatives of G20 member countries present at the summit - apart from the plenary sessions - such as the host country itself, South Africa, Ireland, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.

Non official translation