Vueling and Mobile World Capital Barcelona sign a partnership agreement to promote the development of an innovation community

• The initiative, promoted by Mobile World Capital Barcelona (MWCapital) and Gremi d’Hotels de Barcelona, seeks to build an innovation community in the digital travel and tourism sector,connected to international centres to share knowledge and resources
• Both organisations agree on the importance of being prepared for the challenges facing society with regard to new digital trends in the tourism sector

6 May, 2019

Barcelona, 6 May 2019.- Vueling, the leading domestic airline in Spain and, more specifically, at Josep Tarradellas Barcelona-El Prat Airport, has reached a partnership agreement with Mobile World Capital Barcelona (MWCapital) to promote the development of the technology transformation initiative in the tourism sector, known as Innovation Hub Travel Edition.

The initiative, promoted by MWCapital and Gremi d’Hotels de Barcelona, seeks to build a local innovation community connected to international centres to share knowledge and resources. The ultimate goal is to empower the development of new digital services, strengthening competitiveness and promoting economic growth, as well as ensuring Barcelona becomes a benchmark in the global innovation industry.

In the words of Jorge Saco, the Corporate Areas Director at Vueling, “supporting initiatives such as this one, which promote innovation as the transformation instrument in a constantly changing sector such as tourism is something that is intrinsic to our corporate culture. We must be ready to face the new challenges of the future with a great support of a platform such as Innovation Hub Travel Edition”.

Carlos Grau, CEO of MWCapital, indicated that “this initiative is based on open innovation in which all players help create an innovation ecosystem where knowledge, value creation, opportunities and results are shared openly and globally. The involvement of a company such as Vueling is therefore a great step forward in the search for the challenges and solutions faced by the sector”.

Innovation Hub Travel Edition was designed to help companies in the travel industry undertake a digital transformation process, generating a more sustainable travel industry in which the deployment and implementation of new solutions and business models are promoted by technology and innovation. The programme also seeks to attract the interest and enthusiasm not only of corporations but also the best talent in the sector to strengthen the tourism ecosystem and, ultimately, to put Barcelona on the map as a benchmark innovation centre within the travel industry.

It therefore brings together corporations, regulators, infrastructures, data technology providers, professional services, technology centres, investors and business owners to promote the creation of successful digital services in a more innovative tourism sector through collaboration in knowledge and resources.

Along these lines, Innovation Hub Travel Edition was present at this year’s 4YFN Barcelona with the organisation of a TravelTech track devoted to innovation and the most relevant startups in the sector, and at MWC19 Barcelona, where it presented tourism projects and gave a tour of the congress. Furthermore, recently at the B-Travel tourism trade fair, it presented the results of its TravelTech Observatory survey, which analyses the challenges and opportunities of digitalisation to tourism companies.