With a total award of ten thousand Euro, distributed in three categories: 5,000 Euro for the first, 3,000 for the second and 2,000 for the third prize, Tourism and Planning Costa del Sol wants to recognize the effort and take advantage of the best business initiatives that have participated in the third edition of its business acceleration program of tourism companies Costa del Sol Tourism Hub.
The jury of this second edition of the Award, consisting of representatives of the Provincial Council of Malaga, Unicaja Banking Foundation, the University of Malaga and the Provincial Forum of Tourism, will meet on October 16 to evaluate the development of each project participating in the accelerator, paying special attention to the innovation raised by each initiative, the proposed business model, its contribution to the efficient management of resources and destination, as well as key aspects such as professionalism and strength of the team.
The jury’s decision will be announced during the closing ceremony of the third edition of the Costa del Sol Tourism Hub program, scheduled for the end of next November.
THE ACCELERATION PROGRAM
The Tourism Hub program is an opportunity for entrepreneurs and startups who wish to test, validate or promote their projects by taking advantage of the resources and experience of expert consultants with a recognized professional career in the sector, who help them to identify their market and position their products or services in the most efficient way, provide them with valuable contacts or guide them to select the source of financing needed at each stage of development.
During the four months of the acceleration program, in addition to the support of mentors and consultants, Tourism Hub provides participating projects with a work space in the program’s own facilities, as well as the possibility of showing their business proposals to investors in the Málaga Business Angels Network, in the case of scalable projects with greater development.
THE FINALIST PROJECTS
The call for the third edition of the program included 32 business initiatives that submitted their candidacy, of which 10 have been selected to participate in the accelerator and now opt for any of the three categories of the Costa del Sol Award for Entrepreneurial Tourism Initiatives.
These projects are:
HAMACAPP, a company that leads the digital transformation of the hammock sector through a platform that facilitates the promotion and direct management of hammocks and complementary services, aimed at both beach bars and hotels.
TRANSFERS AND EXPERIENCES, an online platform for booking excursions, transfers, tickets and other complementary offerings, aimed especially at hotels.
YUMEGO, a website and mobile app that uses algorithms supported by artificial intelligence and machine learning to connect travelers through their preferences and offers them joint packages including travel, flight and accommodation, in addition to recommending activities once in the destination.
PLANGRATIS, search engine for free geolocalized leisure plans, which, through big data technology, allows residents and visitors to have knowledge at all times of all the cultural offer and free leisure around them.
RENTHAS, a modern tourist apartment management company that has professionals with more than 15 years of experience in the sector, and which today is positioned as the first “Technology Manager” in Spain for Tourist Apartments and Holiday Homes. Also defined as “the first manager 4.0 of tourist homes”.
MADEWELL DECORACIÓN, company that offers rental of furniture aimed to corporations, professionals or individuals whose business object is the rental of tourist housing, either vacation or residential.
BILLY GOAT GARAGE, positioned as the manager of the best motorbike-tourism center in Europe, which includes among its collaborators official Dakar pilots such as Jordi Arcarons, Miguel Puertas and Gerard Farrés, and which also offers users a gamma App based on the development of technologies such as IoT and geopositioning, which makes their motorbike tourist routes more attractive and enjoyable.
GÜELCOM, the first online platform in which any hotel or tourist accommodation can create and manage its own chatbot without programming knowledge, without technical assistance and in a matter of minutes.
STMATE, an online travel search engine that offers selection possibilities based on budget and comparing different types of transport: plane, train, bus or car.
MÁLAGA VIRTUAL ASSISTANT, Virtual Tourist Assistant based on Chatbot and equipped with Artificial Intelligence that allows interaction with travelers and tourists visiting the Costa del Sol via the instant messaging channels Messenger and WhatsApp.
With this third edition, the Costa del Sol Tourism Hub business acceleration program is positioned as an instrument to encourage the creation, attraction and consolidation of innovative companies in the province of Malaga and especially those related to the tourism sector, taking advantage of the experience of this society in business promotion and tourism management of an international reference destination such as the Costa del Sol.