UNWTO launched the Digital Futures Programme

Bomarzo Park, Italy

Rome [ENA] The wave of phenomena and events that we are witnessing recently has highlighted various fragilities and weaknesses of the European (as well as Italian) economic system, fragilities that derive above all from the error of having had (and still have) a strong dependence (in the energy, agri-food, semiconductor sectors) from other countries . In this scenario, the performance of the European (and Italian) economy

will be considerably determined by the continuation of the war in Ukraine and the pandemic crisis, as well as by their consequences. For these reasons, the leading analysis and research institutes (both national and international) are revising downwards the estimates relating to the European and Italian GDP for the current year: after the "exceptional" recovery of 2021, there’s the risk of a recession or even, given the constant increase in inflation, of a stagflation scenario. Covid-19 closures and restrictions have damaged the Italian tourism sector. With tourism accounting for a large amount of the Italian economy, Italy suffered a particularly hard shock during the pandemic in 2020.

In 2019, before the pandemic hit, tourism accounted for about 14 percent of Italian GDP and nine percent of all jobs in the country. Italy lost a total of €120.6 billion over the course of 2020 due to the pandemic and restrictions on travel and tourism.Italian tourist sector is hoping a comeback i of tourists in 2022, bigger than 2019. But many SME of tourist sector need help. On 17 May, 2022, NWTO has announced the launch of the Digital Futures Programme, designed to accelerate the adoption of new technology among tourism enterprises.Developed in collaboration with some of the world’s leading technology, finance and business companies as Mastercard the initiative is focused on small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), which make up 80%

of all tourism businesses. UNWTO aims to reach at least 1 million tourism SMEs over the lifetime of the Programme, providing them with the foundational skills and knowledge needed to harness the power of new and emerging technologies. The Digital Futures Programme will help them to recover from the impacts of the pandemic and drive the sector forward, powered by innovation and new technology UNWTO Secretary-General Zurab Pololikashvili says: “Small businesses are the backbone of tourism. The Digital Futures Programme will help them to recover from the impacts of the pandemic and drive the sector forward, powered by innovation and new technology.”

In order to provide SMEs with tailored guidance and and tools, the Programme is built on a Digital Readiness Diagnostic Tool that benchmarks SMEs across five key digital dimensions – Connectivity, Business Growth, E-Commerce, Big Data and Analytics, and Payments and Security. The launch event, held at IE Tower in Madrid, was attened by around 200 participants including the Ambassadors to Spain of UNWTO’s Member States, as well as invstement and promotion Agencies, and SMEs themselves.