Galicia TurisTIC is the first Centre for Advanced Tourism and Technology Services in Galicia and was created as a space in which to provide shared services for Galician public administrations, businesses and entrepreneurs. It is promoted by the Cluster TIC Galicia Association and led by Dos Espacios Internet Consulting, the main partner of Galicia TurisTIC.

The Galicia Regional Government launched the programme for the creation of new advanced application centres with the purpose of setting up open, shared-use innovation spaces, equipped with the necessary technological equipment for use by the entire value chain of specialised sectors, in this case tourism.

To date, six centres are being opened and a second call has been approved for the creation of new facilities of this type to boost the competitiveness of the strategic sectors of the Galician economy and the business fabric.

The infrastructure of Galicia TurisTIC has a total area of 285 square metres, divided into 100 metres for laboratories (augmented reality, virtual reality, big data, 3D printers, sensors, photogrammetry set...) and 185 metres for demonstrations, multidisciplinary training and networking. The first Advanced Services Centre of the tourism sector is located in Vilagarcía de Arousa, near the Port, and has excellent communications with the Atlantic motorway.

The project budget amounts to a total of €372,000 (80% co-financed by the Galicia Regional Government through the Galician Institute for Economic Promotion and 20% by Galicia TurisTIC/Dos Espacios Internet Consulting).

Its main aim is to provide the necessary tools to the drivers of innovative content and new solutions in ICT projects to improve the products and services already on the market and generate others that were not possible until now because a space for training, experiments and the forging of business alliances was lacking. The public sector now has a space that it can use as a test bench. It can take advantage of the solutions developed here and incorporate them into its services for the benefit of citizens.

Since its inauguration on 3 May 2022, the main activity of Galicia TurisTIC has been the design and management of the First Accelerator of Tourism Companies of the Galician Regional Government, backed by the Galician Tourism Agency. In addition, the Centre houses a permanent Maker Laboratory of the Municipality Commonwealth of Salnés, within the framework of a European project NovaTFE. It hosted several training activities endorsed by the Municipality Commonwealth of Salnés and by the Association of Young Entrepreneurs of Vilagarcía de Arousa, as well as demonstrations to companies and administrations. It also provides advice to companies and has already set up the first laboratories.

Centre of confluence of ICTs and tourism

The centre was created with a clear aim: to boost the creation of products, services and technology-based companies in the value chain of the Galician tourism industry. Specifically, Galicia TurisTIC represents the confluence of technology and ICT with tourism.

One of the sectors that will have the greatest weight within the training programme and the solutions to be applied will be tourism. The focus will be on smart city projects and smart tourist destinations, environmental sensing, counting systems and people and vehicle flow management or security, which can also be implemented in other areas of public administrations. Likewise, its doors are open to public entities and private companies that request it, both for the development of activities and for training. The centre will pay special attention to acceleration projects for entrepreneurial talent and startups.

Looking to the future, Galicia TurisTIC's roadmap sets out to continue making progress in the provision of equipment and technology for the laboratories and to advance in new proposals to drive innovative entrepreneurship in the field of tourism. "We want to bolster projects that allow Galicia TurisTIC to position itself as a leading centre in technology and innovation with differential applications in the tourism sector and that the business sector takes us into account as a reference centre for innovation," explained Dos Espacios Internet Consulting.