Asturian technology companies launch themselves to predict the movements of tourists

2023-06-12 04:15:00

Let’s imagine a city in which the streetlights have sensors that immediately detect a tourist’s phone. If the visitor is near a theater, he can automatically receive, thanks to these sensors, his programming. Later, that tourist stops before a pastry shop with typical sweets. And that store has a system that collects how many passers-by pass in front of the window, if they stop, at what time, if they go into the store… Both scenes are becoming closer to reality thanks to the drive of smart cities ( “smart cities”), a technological integration of all the dynamics of a city, from the pipe network to the cadastre, passing through the Police, the parks or the bus line. They are projects co-financed by the national government and the town halls so that everyone is connected with everyone: citizens, companies and administrations.

This is also happening in Asturias, with Gijón as a pioneer city. But the information and communication technology (ICT) companies of the Principality also promote projects in other territories of Spain. “There are some 70 Asturian companies involved in the Network of Smart Tourist Destinations,” he says Enrique JaimezCEO of Cluster TIC, an association that brings together more than a hundred companies.

The technological infrastructure that will make smart cities possible is being developed by the company T-Systems, of the German group Deutsche Telekom. However, in the so-called “vertical” (the systems that regulate the different aspects of the city: transport, environment, citizen services…) “there is a lot of contribution from Asturian companies”, says Jáimez.

The goal of smart cities is to collect day-to-day data to capture trends and anticipate problems. For example, through meters at the doors of urban buses that detect where passengers get on and off, in order to improve routes and frequencies. Or a map and geolocation system that knows immediately where there has been a breakdown, where a ditch has been opened, which street is blocked… Or an artificial intelligence application that does the cumbersome procedures for us to obtain a license without suffering delays.

This, of course, opens up possibilities for tourism. The Oviedo City Council, without going any further, has an open call for the project of Zones of Great Tourist Influx (ZGAT). “We are working on it to encourage tourists to buy in local stores and provide them with a technological solution so that they can continue buying these products from their place of origin,” says Jáimez.

Outside of Asturias, in Castilla y León, Asturian technology companies such as Upintelligence, Doc-it or Sispyme are working with the Santa María la Real Foundation – which manages the Castilian-Leon Romanesque heritage – on an artificial intelligence project to predict the flows of cultural tourism.