Telefonica agreed a new collaboration agreement with the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) to drive the adoption of technology in tourism and promote a more digital, sustainable and competitive sector.

The operator stated the collaboration framework runs until 2026 and will promote UNWTO’s Digital Futures programme, which aims to accelerate the economic recovery of the tourism sector through scaling SMEs by incorporating technologies such as AI, big data, blockchain, cybersecurity and cloud.

“These digital tools have the capacity to transform companies to make them more competitive, sustainable and resilient,” said Telefonica, pointing to the benefits of using data to help companies make better decisions and offer more personalised products and services.

Telefonica added training processes to reskill and upskill will also be offered “so that employees can develop and take advantage of the full potential that digitalisation brings to an industry that is so relevant to the economy of many countries”.