“Smart Tourism: Occupation and Gender” is the title of the second Smart Tourism Conference organized by the Universitat Politècnica de València at Campus Gandia, on September 25th and 26th. Registration is free and can be done online at jornadesturisme.webs.upv.es. The conference is aimed at students, professionals, research staff, public administrations representatives, businesses and unions. The advantages of incorporating gender perspectives into tourism management, the labor challenges of the sector and also the innovation and technology applied to management will be discussed.
The mayor of Gandia and the director of the UPV Gandia Campus, presenting the press conference.
The “Smart Tourism” Conference is organized to coincide with the International Tourism Day, celebrated on September 27 and whose 2019 motto is: “Tourism and Work: a better future for everyone”. The academic board of the Bachelor’s Degree in Tourism and the Bachelor’s Double Degree in Business Administration and Management + Tourism of the Campus is coordinating the conference, with the sponsorship of “Gandia Smart Tourism” Chair, promoted by the City of Gandia at the UPV.
According to Eva Mestre, director of the Conference, “With this proposal we will try to look at where tourism is heading or should head in order to contribute to the well being of the communities. We want to analyze the current employment situation offered by the sector, the shortcomings and the opportunities presented by smart tourism. We focus in particular on the case of women, who have a more precarious situation, in this particularly seasonal sector.”
“The Future of Tourism and Key Professional Skills” is the title of the inaugural conference, given by Raquel Huete, professor at the University of Alicante and former General Director of Tourism of the Generalitat Valenciana, from 2016 to 2018. Beatriz Hernández, representative of Smart Tourism of the Generalitat Valenciana, is in charge of the closing conference, entitled “Smart Tourism Applied to Tourism of the Valencian Community”.
CONFERENCES, ROUND TABLES, INFORMATIONAL WORKSHOPS
The conference program includes various conferences, round tables and informational workshops. Virginia Vega Carrero, professor and Vice Chancellor of the UPV, will give a lecture on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and their relationship with tourism and equality. Pau Alonso-Monasterio, research professor at the UPV, will talk about the gender perspective in the Comprehensive Quality Assurance System for Tourist Destinations (SICTED, for its Spanish initials). On Thursday, September 26th, the UPV Tourism Degree teacher, Lourdes Canós, will offer a conference on the “Management Skills of Women in the Tourism Sector”. On the same day, businesswoman Celia Romero will give a talk about the role of emotional intelligence in a Smart Tourist Destination.
The program includes round tables on “Positive Experiences of the Sector'”; “innovation and Smart Cities”, and “Current Labor Challenges of Tourism”‘, which will facilitate the debate between businesses, professionals, administrations and unions. There will also be a presentation on Startups in the tourism sector, where entrepreneurs will explain their proposals.
The practical training workshops will be held Wednesday at 5:30 p.m., and you can choose between “Implementation of Equality Plans in Tourism Businesses’; “The Challenges of the Smart Business”; “Internet of Things for SMEs”; “Design Sprint and the Benefits for Your Business” and “Creating Social Media Content”.
