The event focused on crucial concerns for startups and tourism entrepreneurs
In partnership with Switzerland-based Les Roches Global Hospitality Management School, UNWTO launched initiatives to support tourism startups to foster innovation and contribute to their shift in greater sustainability.
Indicating the high level of interest and support for the revolutionary solutions being developed by the startups, the event attracted about 100 participants, including investors and stakeholders in private equity, international investment funds, consulting firms, Spark’s technology partners, as well as several representatives of the Swiss authorities, says UNWTO.
According to a press statement by UNWTO, the 15 winners of the UNWTO Awake Tourism Challenge had the chance to participate in Spark, Les Roches Hospitality School’s Acceleration programme in Crans-Montana, Switzerland, over the month of May. With focus on crucial concerns for startups and tourism entrepreneurs, such as fundraising, market research, legal issues, and transparency, the participants also took part in a technology challenge.
The statement says that the UNWTO Awake Tourism Challenge, organised in collaboration with its partners, is aimed at encouraging startups and entrepreneurs to develop solutions that address key challenges for the sector. In six different verticals, the challenge enables participants to come up with solutions to the pillar that best aligned with their innovations.
These verticals included green and blue economies, local community involvement, tourism education, ecological and sustainable capital creation, women empowerment, and tourism tech for good. The winning startups included Coastruction from Netherlands, Noytrall, Portugal, Quantum Temple, USA, Socialbnb, Germany, and many more.
The statement adds that the winning startups of competition have also joined the innovation network, which now comprises 300 leading startups from all the startup competitions organised by the UNWTO‘s Innovation department since its establishment in 2018.
The SDG Competition’s topics will be the focus of the upcoming global startup competition, which is slated to debut in the fourth quarter of 2023. The upcoming event will further inspire entrepreneurs to work towards the Sustainable Development Goals and have a beneficial influence on the travel and tourism industry, it adds.
