Podcast Tourism meets data – Episode 1 with Dolores Ordoñez.
In our first podcast episode, we spoke with Dolores Ordoñez, General Director of AnySolution and coordinator of DEPLOYTOUR, about how tourism can position itself as a key pillar of Europe’s data economy. Through DEPLOYTOUR, the ambition is clear: integrate tourism into the European data strategy and unlock the power of data and AI to build a more resilient, competitive and sustainable sector.
This article explores the key takeaways from that conversation.
Growing sector, a growing set of challenges
Tourism is a growing industry — and with growth comes an ever-expanding set of challenges. All indicators point to continued expansion in the years ahead, bringing with many challenges, each demanding its own response.
Some destinations are buckling under the pressure of overcrowding, requiring smarter management of visitor flows. At the same time, the sector must reconcile that growth with environmental and social sustainability.
Adding to the difficulty is the fragmentation of the ecosystem. Since SMEs and micro-SMEs account for 99% of the tourism sector, coordination, data collection, and decision-making are inherently difficult. Data and AI (Artificial Intelligence) can help, but only if they are accompanied by education, capacity building, and the right governance frameworks.
Siloed data is holding destinations back
To manage a destination well, destinations needs a complete picture: visitor numbers, yes, but also environmental data, mobility patterns, cultural heritage metrics, labour market trends, and more. Today, that information is scattered across different departments, sectors, and organisations, making it nearly impossible to act on in a joined-up way.
This is precisely the problem that data spaces are designed to solve: creating a shared environment where datasets can be discovered, described, and exchanged — without requiring anyone to hand over their data unconditionally. By bringing these different data sources together, SMEs (Small and Medium Entreprises) and DMOs (Destination Management Organisations) can finally access the full picture they need to make better and more informed decisions.
Many destinations claim to be sustainable. But without data, that claim is difficult to substantiate or act upon. What is the energy consumption baseline? What is the social impact on local communities? How is tourism affecting the labour market?You cannot manage what you cannot measure. Better data allows destinations to establish where they actually stand, track progress against clear indicators, and make genuinely informed decisions. It also enables forecasting and simulation, helping destinations anticipate future pressures rather than simply react to them. Resilience, in other words, is built on data.
The European Tourism Data Space
To adress this challenges, DEPLOYTOUR is developing a trusted and secure Common European Data Space for Tourism to enable secure, interoperable and governed data sharing across the tourism ecosystem.
Five pilots have been defined to reflect the diversity of European tourism:
- Sustainable Tourism Management of Alpine Tourism between cross-border destinations, Slovenia and Austria;
- Mature Destination Resiliency and Competitiveness in Canary Islands, Andalusia and the Balearic Islands (Spain);
- Supporting the competitiveness of the MICE sector in Paris Region (France);
- Leveraging cultural heritage to diversify tourism offer: the case of Ano Syros (Greece);
- Empowering SMEs in Tourism through a Collaborative TravelTech in Lapland (Finland).
These pilots are tackling key challenges in tourism. They showcase varied destinations, offerings, and data-sharing models, proving the viability of the data space in real-world scenarios and advancing the creation of the European Tourism Data Space.
Data sharing doesn’t mean losing control
The most common concern amongst tourism stakeholders when we speak about data space and data sharing is trust: what will happen to my data? Who is going to use it? Who will have controle on it?
The answer lies in understanding what a data space actually is and what it is not. A data space is not a data lake where everything is pooled together freely. In a data space, users will find a catalogue where datasets are described through their metadata, clearly indicating who owns the data, who can access it, under what conditions, for how long it can be used, and what can be done with it.
In a data space, data sharing is not compulsory. The incentive to share comes from the value it creates: new business models, better products, greater efficiency, and richer knowledge. Once that value is understood and trust is established, the conversation changes.
Yet beyond trust, there is another challenge for a data space: complexity. Behind a data space lies a significant amount of technical development: robust architecture, connectors, governance frameworks… all designed to ensure that data can flow seamlessly across actors and sectors. The goal, however, is that users never have to feel any of that complexity. The ambition is to make something technically demanding feel as intuitive as any everyday platform. This means building friendly interfaces, developing clear training materials and guidelines, and working closely with local actors to understand their real needs and requirements, so that any dataset in the tourism sector can be easily discovered and accessed, regardless of the user’s technical background.
AI is only as good as the data behind it
AI has enormous potential for tourism — powering smarter recommendations, more personalised experiences, and better operational decisions. But AI is only as good as the data it is trained on. Poor data produces poor AI.
The priority, therefore, is building quality, well-structured databases that accurately reflect the identity and values of a destination or business. Whether the goal is informing visitors about local environmental constraints, recommending places to eat, or sharing the history of a site — the output will only be as useful as the input.
Key Takeaways
- Start with your own data. Understand what you hold, how it is structured, and what you are willing to share — and under what conditions.
- A data space is not a platform. It is a governed environment for discovering and exchanging data safely, with clear rules.
- Data sharing creates value. New services, new efficiencies, new knowledge — the incentive to share is real.
- No data, no sustainability. Measurement requires a baseline, and a baseline requires data.
- Good AI needs good data. The quality of your inputs determines the quality of your outputs.
“Data is key to have the best future of tourism we can imagine. We really need to prepare high-quality data to share, so we will be able to make the best decisions for the tourism we want.”