Smart ambitions

ALTEA aspires to be Spain’s first Smart municipality with a population of less than 50,000 inhabitants.
A Smart city or municipality uses information and communication technology (ICT) to improve operational efficiency, share information with the public and provide a better service, explained Altea’s Tourism councillor Xelo Gonzalez at a recent Casa de Cultura meeting.
Also present were the Valencian Community’s Tourism secretary general Herick Campos, Altea’s mayor Jaume Llinares and Mariano Torres, CEO of Sien Consulting.
Altea’s local government has set itself the challenge of obtaining the coveted Smart Tourist Destination certificate by the end of the year, Gonzalez revealed.
“Today we are setting out to show what has been carried out so far and the future actions that the town hall will be carrying out,” the councillor said.
Altea would be the first town with fewer than 50,000 inhabitants to obtain this recognition, she added.
To date only Benidorm and the Costa del Sol West have achieved this official recognition of tourism excellence and sustainability which, Gonzalez said, would allow the municipality to embark on the transition to a “green, digital tourism model.”