• 12/11/2018

More than 150 tourism quality experts meet at the XV SICTED Forum 2018

The XV SICTED Forum 2018, held in Valencia, on November 29 and 30, 2018, the result of cooperation between the Secretary of State for Tourism and the Valencian Community, was inaugurated by the Secretary of State, Bel Oliver and closed by the president of SEGITTUR, Enrique Martínez. The event featured a large group of experts, representatives and destination managers, who debated the present and future of Spanish tourism quality.

XV Sicted Forum

The Veles e Vents building, located in Marina de Valencia, was the venue for the event.

Among the attendees were more than 50 tourist destination managers, 30 SICTED agents, 15 destination representatives, as well as numerous representatives of CCAA, Provincial Councils and experts in tourism quality, who together with the speakers, members of the organization and authorities, exceeded the 150 participants.

The inauguration of the SICTED Forum was carried out by Sandra Gómez López, First Deputy Mayor and Councilor for Tourism of the Valencia City Council, Francesc Colomer Sánchez, Autonomous Secretary of Tourism of the Valencian Community, and Isabel Oliver Sagreras, Secretary of State for Tourism.

Oliver emphasized during his speech the importance of tourism quality as a lever for the competitiveness and sustainability of the sector in Spain and pointed out that “today it is not enough to do things well, it is necessary to do different things, innovating , taking advantage of the opportunities offered by technology, improving the governance system or applying the continuous improvement cycle.”

The opening day included a presentation on Tourism Quality Systems: trajectory and expectations, by Félix Serrano Delgado, head of the Tourism Quality Area of ​​the Secretary of State for Tourism, and the situation of SICTED in the Valencian Community, by José Luis Wagner, head of the Tourism Competitiveness Area of ​​Turisme Comunitat Valenciana. p>

Edificio Veles e Vents During the forum, the news from the SICTED methodological review carried out in 2018, by Calixto Mellén Madruga, SEGITTUR project manager, Iris Contreras Amador and Elena Sedano, technicians from the Quality Area of ​​SEGITTUR, Carmen Río Coto, coordinator of Gijón con Calidad programs, Naiara Ayo, from the Competitiveness, Quality and Training Area of ​​Basquetur, and María Soler Regli, consulting partner of Álgida, S.L.

The relationships between Tourism and Accessibility were also detailed, by Carlos Laguna Asensi, member of the CERMI Comunidad Valenciana Executive Committee, and Tatiana Alemán Selva< /strong>, technical director of Universal Accessibility, Tourism and Culture of PREDIF.

The possibilities of conversational robots (chatbots) were presented by José María Veganzones Alonso Cortés, head of the Big Data and Geo Analytics Laboratory at IECISA.

Discussion tables

The forum featured two interesting discussion tables. The first, titled How does quality influence the improvement of tourism competitiveness and sustainability?, was coordinated by Antonia Alomar, Cabinet Director of the Secretary of State for Tourism , and had as speakers Rubén López Pulido, deputy director general of Tourism Development and Sustainability, Violeta Matas, director of the FEMP Tourism Area, Fernando Fraile García , General Director of ICTE, and Antonio Bernabé, Director of Tourism Valencia.

The second table was about What do we expect from the future of tourism quality systems? Impact of innovations in technology, training and cooperation, being coordinated by Violeta Matas , director of the FEMP Tourism Area. Participating as speakers were Iñaki Gaztelumendi, Tourism consultant, Emma Plá, director of the Master in Innovation in Tourism Management at the CETT UB, Xavier Font Urgell , head of the Technical Tourism Office of the Barcelona Provincial Council, and David Bueno, manager of the Municipal IT Center of the Malaga City Council.

Conference As a novelty compared to previous editions, a session was convened quick presentations in Pechakucha format, which allowed Encarna Marín Guardiola to present their experiences, Destino Murcia: Tourism Lunches; Nuria Illescas Nieves, Orihuela Destination: SICTED Quality Circuit and Gastronomic Days; Miguel Ángel Jara Santamera, Sierra de Guadarrama Destination: The landscapes of the Madrid mountains sit at the table; Diana Morant, mayor of Gandía: SICTED makes Gandía shine; Dolores Priego Ruíz, Destino Alcalá La Real: Alcalá from €21, and Miguel Iglesias, from TurMedia: Social networks in the promotion of tourist destinations. The experience in the Community of Madrid.

The closing of the XV SICTED Forum was carried out by Josep Manuel Gisbert, General Director of Tourism of the Valencian Community, and Enrique Martinez, president of SEGITTUR.< /p>

Forum presentations and videos

All event information, including presentations and forum video recordings, is available on the website www.forosicted2018.org