UN recognises Dubai tech startup for efforts to spur tourism industry

Dubai-headquartered travel-tech startup Hotel Data Cloud (HDC) has been officially selected as a ‘Healing Solutions for Tourism’ by The United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO).

HDC was selected for this recognition from among more than 1,000 other entrants from over 100 countries and was the only Middle East company to receive the accolade.

The startup serves as a centralised global database for hotels to disseminate information including data and images to hundreds of stakeholders.

Recently, it introduced a new initiative whereby hotels can now communicate their health and safety measures by creating a profile on HDC and filling in the Covid-19 preparedness section – which will then be automatically shared and freely accessible by any travel company, tourism board, government agency or other institutions via the the startup’s data feed.

The @UNWTO has selected UAE-based travel-tech start-up @hoteldatacloud as a “Healing Solutions for Tourism” https://t.co/YEnd1GAvKl pic.twitter.com/mNHhiNNvsN

— dubaitourism (@dubaitourism) June 11, 2020

The information can include safety standards, hygiene protocols and social distancing measures, among other precautions, all of which are communicated in real time.

“Tourism is a leading driver of economic growth, and re-establishing trust by being open and transparent with travelers, is a critical factor in restarting tourism globally. It is encouraging to see HDC stepping up to that challenge and offering a solution that will enable hotels to rebuild customer confidence and trust by being able to share vital attributes, that affect travel decision making,” said Natalia Bayona, senior expert on Innovation and Digital Transformation at UNWTO.

“We are proud and humbled to be recognised for our efforts towards rebuilding the tourism sector. With our technology, hotels can now efficiently share critical information, so that travelers can be reassured of their safety and confidently book their next stay,” said Kevin Czok, co-founder and managing partner of HDC.

The travel and tourism sector accounted for $245bn or 8.6 per cent of total GDP within the GCC in 2019, according to a report by the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC).

Read: Covid-19 impact on the GCC’s travel and tourism sector: When will it pick up again?

Estimates released by the UNWTO in 2019 also suggested that the GCC is poised to attract 195 million visitors by 2030, above the global average for any one region.