World Tourism Organization Launches First and Largest Competition For Tourism Startups

The World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) is conducting a global hunt for tourism startups that want to transform the industry.

The organization, which is part of the United Nations, has announced that it’s partnering with Globalia, a leading tourism group in Spain and Latin America, to launch of the first UNWTO Tourism Startup Competition.

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UNWTO described the competition as the world’s first and largest initiative devoted to identifying new companies that will “lead the transformation of the tourism sector.”

As part of the effort to find those bold and visionary companies, the call for entrants will be issued in 164 countries around the world.

“The objective of the program is to select the best solutions and the most disruptive projects,” UNWTO said in a statement. “The search will focus on finding pioneering proposals for implementation of emerging and disruptive technologies, as well as on startups based on new business models, such as the circular economy.”

One of the goals of the competition is to give visibility to projects that are committed to enhancing sustainability in tourism, according to the UNWTO statement.

The startup search process will be both ambitious and complex, aimed at identifying the best projects from all corners of the planet.

To do this UNWTO and Globalia have enlisted the innovation consultancy firm Barrabés.biz, a firm with more than 20 years’ experience in the creation, connection and activation of entrepreneurship and innovation ecosystems.

To broaden the scope of the competition and to facilitate the registration of interested startups, the program will be implemented through the digital platform YouNoodle, a leading Silicon Valley company in the startup evaluation space at the global level.

“Innovation and tourism investment are not ends in themselves; they are means to develop better tourism products, to improve the governance of tourism and to make the most of the proven sustainability of tourism, by creating jobs and generating opportunities," UNWTO Secretary-General Zurab Pololikashvili, said in a statement.

Globalia CEO Javier Hidalgo confirmed his company’s support for this new initiative emphasizing that “as a global tourism group, we want to offer the winners the opportunity to work with us and transform the sector together”.

To participate in the global competition, startups must present business models that are related to at least one of four main areas: the future of travel; the tourism experience; environmental impact or community development

Those interested in participating can find more information and submit their applications through the program's website at www.tourismstartups.org.

Applications will be accepted between now and September 3. Projects will be evaluated according to five criteria: uniqueness and viability of the solution, potential impact, business model, scalability and team profile.

A jury will evaluate the entries and select the best projects as semi-finalists, which are scheduled to be announced in September 2018. Competition winners will have the opportunity to be part of the leading companies in the tourism sector.