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Designing an innovative system for detecting and analysing digital data in the tourist sector.

This is the aim of the protocol signed between the Regione Toscana and CNIT: building a system which is capable of providing high quality data and information more quickly. This will deepen the knowledge of tourist trends and facilitate the decision-making processes in this sector.

The collaboration with the Consorzio Nazionale Interuniversitario per le Telecomunicazioni (CNIT) – which is part of the Digital Tourism Data Observatory – originates from the need to overcome the limits of the current data collection system, to speed up the collection time, and be informed about tourist flow in Tuscany in advance.

Current technologies, especially Big data and the Internet of Things, give access to information which is crucial for the setting of tourism policies and strategies.

These technologies can make relevant information available, not only on the collective behaviour of people, but also on the relationship between places, people and things.

In addition to a considerable increase in data, currently there’s a wide variety of sources: cell phones, credit cards, smart city infrastructures, sensors on buildings, public and private means of transport. We can know much more than the numbers of overnight stays.

It’s therefore a matter of understanding how these sources can be used in compliance with the current legislation, which data is of interest and how it can be made interoperable at regional level.

“The agreement – comments the councillor for tourism Stefano Ciuoffo – is part of the program that the Regione Toscana is carrying out for the creation of a Digital Observatory. The aim is not to use mere statistical data, but to imply innovative technologies and new data sources. We want to improve the current statistical bases and optimise their use with the introduction of more data and big data. Some of this information is already available, it’s just a matter of putting it into the system.“

“The commitment of the CNIT – explains CNIT general manager Nicola Blefari Melazzi – is to design an open and accessible digital platform for the tourism sector, avoiding technological lock-in phenomena and commercial dependencies. Following the example of the Port of Livorno, we’ll design a platform which will enable various institutions and industrial subjects to create ICT services. This venture of the Regione Toscana invests in the digital economy, particularly in the tourism sector, which in Italy doesn’t yet rely on Open Data and doesn’t implement some of the more advanced features which are envisaged, for example, by the ‘Mobility as a Service’ business models. CNIT wants to design tools for monitoring the tourism phenomenon, forecasting flows, detecting anomalous events and planning the tourist offering”.

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