Twelve firms have won awards at the annual Tourism Innovation Summit (TIS) worldwide entrepreneurship competition, Touristech Startup Fest 2023. With a goal of becoming the premier event for the tourism and technology entrepreneurial ecosystem, the event has attracted over 4,000 applications from startups in the US, UK, Austria, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Sweden, and Spain, among other countries.
Forty startups were chosen as finalists for the Touristech Startup Fest, where they will present their traditional elevator pitch to businesses and investors from the following tourism-related segments: Distribution Channels, Destinations, Hospitality, Mobility & Travel, Activities & Leisure, and MICE. Twelve startups took home prizes this year in various categories.
iUrban, a tourism platform with artificial intelligence that leverages ChatGPT to personalize the tourist experience and functions as a 24/7 tourist office in more than 94 languages, was one of them and it was the recipient of the Andalucía LAB Award for Ciceron.
For its part, Hotelverse won the CaixaBank Award for a project that completely transforms how people book rooms and hotel services in advance of their stay. It is a digital twin of the hotel that gives visitors full control over their reservation process, including the ability to fly over the establishment, explore its amenities, and customize a particular room to their heart’s content before making a reservation.
Another winner was the startup BuscoExtra, which received the La Fábrica de Sevilla Award for offering hoteliers a technological solution that enables them to hire employees anywhere in Spain in two hours, including all the paperwork involved in signing and registering the contract.
The Telefónica Award was also given to the hospitality industry in recognition of Aphy, a robotic process automation solution that helps hotels optimize their operations and integrate their systems with a fully managed service.
For its part, DNA – Digital Nomads Association Portugal, an organization founded in 2022 to promote Portugal to recruit digital nomads by the establishment of hubs, events, communities, and promotion of destinations with perfect circumstances for remote work, has been recognized with the PCT CARTUJA Award.
Ruuts.travel, a startup, took up the WTTC Award. It’s the first marketplace for renting out RVs in Eastern Europe with an emphasis on sustainability, catering to the growing popularity of motorhomes and consumers’ demand for more environmentally conscious travel.
Additionally, Curated Planet—dubbed “the Uber of travel”—won the NEBEXT Award for complimentary TIS2024 participation. The business offers tour operators a centralized platform for communication and location sharing, automating the dissemination of welcome greetings, disclaimers, travel papers, recommendations, surveys, feedback gathering, and cross-selling, and exchanging information to streamline tour operations.
Finally, three distinct startups’ initiatives have been recognized by La Salle Technova. Among these is Passporter, a piece of technology that travel companions travelers through every stage of the trip, fostering a community that organizes, exchanges, and inspires via travelogues and experiences. Additionally, Turbosuite was recognized for their project, which leverages artificial intelligence, data analysis, and expert expertise to streamline hotel revenue management and optimize profitability. For developing Sigho, an intelligent system comprising several solutions for full hotel management, including customer relations, event management, point of sale, accounting, ordering, etc., Visionary Hospitality took home the third place award.
Source- Travel daily