Podcast Tourism meets data – Episode 8 with Federica Amati
In this episode, Federica Amati, Senior Advisor at Data Appeal, discusses how destinations can move from simply collecting data to combining it to understand what is happening, why it is happening, and where action can make a real difference.
This article explores the key takeaways from that conversation.
The challenge of navigating data for destinations
For destinations, the challenge often starts with the data itself. In many cases, they are not familiar with numbers, data quality or data analysis, making it difficult to consult and compare different datasets and data sources, particularly when they do not directly access or own the databases.
And it’s understandable: there are many different types of data to navigate: qualitative and quantitative data, historical trends, predictive analysis…often coming from different sources and contexts. One dataset might capture visitors’ perceptions through a survey, while another provides information on accommodation prices, trends or occupancy rates. The challenge is not only accessing and comparing this information, but also bringing it together and understanding what it actually tells us. Without a common language to connect and critically analyse these different datasets, having more data can sometimes create more confusion than clearer answers.
Combining data to understand the bigger picture
Combining different data sources is key to making informed decisions. For destinations, this means looking beyond a single indicator and bringing together a wide range of information from all available sources: from access and air connectivity to demand and markets, traveller experience and sentiment, supply and competitiveness, spending, sustainability and more. Combining qualitative and quantitative data can help DMOs and DMCs understand what is happening in a specific territory or among specific segments, based on visitors’ opinions and insights from travel partners rather than relying only on high-level perceptions or intuition.
But with so many tourism data sources available today, identifying the ones that are truly relevant is a challenge in itself. Data quality is paramount, and providers with broad coverage and a high level of granularity can provide a strong foundation for precise, in-depth analysis.
Yet having the right data is not enough. Data also needs to be considered within its wider context and critically analysed. Measuring a destination’s performance during a specific event, for example, only becomes meaningful when the results are considered alongside the broader context. Without critical thinking, data is just numbers. Even a comprehensive data catalogue remains little more than an archive if it does not help answer the questions that matter. This is why the human dimension is an essential part of the process.
How destinations can turn data into action?
The value of combining data becomes clearer through concrete examples. Traveller sentiment can reveal concerns about accessibility, transport or congestion, but these perceptions become more meaningful when compared with quantitative data such as air connectivity, mobility, accommodation performance and demand. This can help destinations understand whether a perceived problem is linked to their overall attractiveness or to specific aspects of the visitor experience. The same applies to sustainability, which involves multiple dimensions, from travel spending and carbon emissions to seasonality, tourism concentration and dependence on origin markets. among other. By connecting these indicators, destinations can better understand the story behind the numbers and identify where action could make a difference.
The examples of Turin and Benidorm, respectively named European Capital of Smart Tourism and European Green Pioneer of Smart Tourism in 2025, show how data can help address different challenges at different levels. In Turin, the Destination Sustainability Index brings together several dimensions, including destination management, overtourism, sociocultural and environmental factors, highlighting in particular the impact of urban green spaces. In Benidorm, the data points to a different set of priorities, with one of its main challenges being to reduce the concentration of tourism during traditional peak periods. These examples show that there is no single definition of sustainable tourism: each destination can use data to identify its specific strengths, challenges and areas for improvement.
🎧 Want to explore these examples in more detail?
Establishing the biggest priorities for the coming years
According to The Data Appeal Company, one of the biggest priorities for destinations is shifting from measuring tourism’s growth to understanding its quality and impact. For many years, destinations have focused on indicators such as arrivals, overnight stays and occupancy. While these remain important, they do not tell the whole story.
Today, destinations also need to answer questions such as: How much value is tourism generating locally? What is its environmental footprint? And, most importantly, how do residents perceive tourism? This is why sustainability has become such a key issue. It is not only about reducing CO₂ emissions or protecting the environment.
It is also about finding a balance between the economic value generated by tourism, visitors’ experiences, residents’ quality of life, and a destination’s ability to preserve its resources and attractiveness over time. Data can support this shift towards better destination management, making sustainability more actionable by allowing destinations to measure and monitor its different dimensions over time.
To understand how this works in practice, listen to the episode “Smart Tourism in practice: How Seville uses data to manage this mature destination? With Daniel Santana “
Key opportunities from DEPLOYTOUR
Tourism data is often fragmented: airlines, accommodation providers, destinations, mobility and payment providers each hold different types of information. Even when the data exists, it is not always easy to find, access or combine. DEPLOYTOUR is addressing this challenge by developing a trusted, secure and interoperable European tourism data space that enables stakeholders to share and use data while maintaining control over their own data. The goal is not to create one huge database, but to connect data across the tourism ecosystem and give destinations a broader view of what is happening.
For destinations, this can help reduce the gaps created by fragmented data and make data-driven decision-making more accessible. But access to data must also be accompanied by data literacy and a critical approach: having more data does not automatically mean making better decisions. People need the skills to understand, question and act on data, and this is also one of the key opportunities highlighted by the European approach to tourism data spaces.
Key messages
- Focus on collecting and connecting the data that helps you answer the questions that matter most for you.
- For destinations, being data-driven doesn’t mean replacing human judgment with numbers. Rather, it means using evidence to challenge assumptions, understand what is really happening, and make better decisions.
- Data becomes truly valuable when it helps us move from knowing what is happening to understanding why it is happening, and then how we can intervene.