On November 4, in the framework of the Tourism Innovation Summit in Seville, the European Data Space for Tourism (DATES) initiative was officially launched, aimed at the development of the first "data space" of tourism in Europe.
The project is funded by the European Commission through the Digital Europe Programme, established in 2021 with the ambitious goal of supporting the green and digital transition, strengthening the resilience and digital sovereignty of the Union. The initiative will provide secure access to data pertaining to strategic European industrial sectors, such as tourism, in line with the European Commission’s strategy of establishing a data infrastructure and appropriate governance mechanisms.
The Ministry of Tourism is part of the European consortium that will create the "data space" through the involvement of 15 key stakeholders of the tourism industry from Belgium, France, Germany, Czech Republic, Slovenia and Spain.
The consortium is also characterized by the strong complementarity of skills, guaranteed by the presence of different types of actors, including research institutes, Digital Innovation Hub, system integrators, consulting firms and organisations active in the development of European data spaces.
Thanks to the experience gained in the realization of the Tourism Digital Hub, the Ministry of Tourism will play a key role in the analysis and definition of common standards and interoperability procedures, which are crucial for the effective functioning of the data space.