Belotur launches fuTURISM – Research and Tourism Innovation Program

(Source: Belo Horizonte Tourism Office )

The main idea of this initiative is to consolidate Belo Horizonte/Minas Gerais/Brazil as an intelligent, competitive and sustainable tourist destination, through partnerships that promote innovation in the city.

With the idea of promoting an exchange with the academic environment and consolidating the capital of Minas Gerais as an intelligent, competitive and sustainable tourist destination, Belotur launched fuTURISM– Research and Tourism Innovation Program. On Monday, July 9, the availability study for the Tourism Innovation Laboratory was presented. The material was produced in partnership with the master’s and doctorate’s students of the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG).

Aside from the laboratory, fuTURISM has also planned for other initiatives: HACKATUR – an innovation challenge in tourism focused on startups and entrepreneurs; Smart City and Smart Tourism Destination International Seminar is scheduled for September; and there is also the strengthening of the Tourism Observatory, an institution focused on studies and market intelligence.

“futTURISM is a program that focuses on research and innovation in tourism designed in partnership with universities and the private market sector. It will help us in structuring tourism policies, as well as strengthening the startups and entrepreneurship ecosystem in this perspective”, says Aluizer Malab, President of Belo Horizonte Tourism Office - Belotur.

The program name comes from merging two words, future / tourism, and is focused on the set of guidelines that Belotur prepared to incorporate in its routine as a department of development and promotion of tourist and associated activities in Belo Horizonte. The integrant actions are being designed to promote innovation, foster entrepreneurship and spread knowledge in tourism, culture, entertainment, events and gastronomy, with urban tourism as a catalyst for these segments.

The project´s strategy is also in line with the new management plan of the World Tourism Organization. Launched in May, with the theme "Towards 2030: Making tourism smarter, more competitive and more responsible", the new plan aims to ensure the importance of tourism for sustainable development and encourage multi-stakeholder in a collaborative planning, development and management of tourism.

Tourism Innovation Laboratory

Belotur sought assistance from UFMG for the development of the tourism innovation laboratory in Montreal, Paris and Portugal models. The project starts with the availability study conducted by the master’s and doctoral students of Innovation from UFMG, and concludes with a plan that indicates guidelines and an operational model of the laboratory, which will be implemented by Belotur. The project became a study of the future masters and doctors, and resulted from an approach of Belotur to the academic environment. It then became a case to structure the innovation within the company in a systematic and permanent format, and allowed the expansion to the external environment of the organization. The project marks the resumption of the narrowing of Belotur's relations with educational institutions, in search of reciprocity between theory and practice.

HACKATUR

The Innovation Challenge in Tourism - HACKATUR is a project focused on encouraging and developing innovative and creative solutions proposed by startups and entrepreneurs for the tourism sector. The goal is to generate new business models and innovative solutions for the tourism production chain and associated activities, promoting interaction, integration and business possibilities to the participants involved. Soon, the regulation and the opening of the registrations will be published for those interested in participating in HACKATUR, a partnership between BELOTUR and SEBRAE - Brazilian Micro and Small Enterprises' Support Service.

Smart City and Smart Tourism Destination International Seminar

Stimulating the dialogue and technical debate between public authorities, private sector, universities and agents of the third sector will be the basis for holding the event, and will be held in a seminar format, to debate this worldwide trend. Scheduled for September 2018, the seminar aims to discuss public policies for the constitution of a city and a smart tourist destination.

The Smart Tourist Destination concept, which is the basis for the formatting of fuTURISM, has its origins linked with the smart cities concept. According to Segittur, a Spanish state-owned company dedicated to the management of innovation and tourism technologies, this concept is all about "An innovative tourist destination, consolidated on a technological infrastructure of vanguard that guarantees the sustainable development of the tourist territory. Accessible to all, it facilitates interaction and integration of the visitor with the surroundings and increases the quality of their experience at the destination, while improving the quality of life of the residents”.