The Tech4Travel Summit 2025 end with a successful 2nd edition

The second edition of the Tech4Travel Summit concluded with highly positive results: nearly 150 attendees and 25 speakers filled the halls of the 1881 Hotel Balneario Vichy Catalan to share knowledge, experiences, and trends on the technological transformation of the tourism sector.

Over two intense days, professionals from tourism, innovation, and technology came together to debate, get inspired, and connect while envisioning the future of smart tourism.

🧠 Day 1: Artificial intelligence as a driver of change

The first day of the Summit focused on artificial intelligence (AI) as a driving force of change within the tourism sector. Several experts shared insights and experiences on how this technology is reshaping processes, user experience, and business management.

After the institutional reception by the president of the Tech Tourism Cluster, Ingrid Graells, the day continued with one of our keynote speakers: Josep M. Martorell, former Associate Director of the Barcelona Supercomputing Center, who made us reflect on how, in just a few decades, technology has multiplied one million times its capacity.

Susana Tarazaga from Booking.com highlighted that 30% of travelers already use AI to book their trips, emphasizing the need to adapt to new markets and maintain an ethical approach amid this technological paradigm shift.

Albert Serra, Innovation Director at the Gremi d’Hotels de Barcelona, presented PREVEO, a new digital tool designed to serve as Barcelona’s event agenda, improving coordination and planning within the industry.

Then, we enjoyed an enriching debate moderated by Joan Martí Estévez, Director of Business Strategy of ACCIÓ who presented the ACCIÓ Growth Programme, an accompanying initiative for companies with the ambition of growing and scaling their impact on the market.

The round table featured three leading voices that are precisely experts in business growth: Xavi Tirado, CEO of Business Insights, Ingrid Graells, Commercial and Marketing Director of Beroni and Javier Bultó, Consultant at Finkator. They shared key reflections on the challenges and opportunities of business growth in the traveltech sector.

Next, Xavier Martin, Co-founder and CEO of Turijobs, shared his talk “How AI and technology give us time back to take care of talent,” stressing that technology should help humanize recruitment processes, allowing professionals to focus more on people and talent management.

One of the day’s key highlights was the round table “Metasearch: from SEO positioning to AI recommendations,” moderated by Xavier Pallicer, CEO and founder of GuestPro. Speakers Cristian Fernández (Hoteles Garbí), Sònia Molina (HotelsDot – Grupo Septeo), and Jose Maria Ramon (Neobookings) agreed on the importance of adapting platforms to be favored by algorithms and emphasized the value of reviews as a key source of visibility and trust.

Before lunch, Gustavo García, Chairman of Skye Group Innovation, presented “Technological trends becoming real in tourism,” demonstrating live how AI is transforming various sectors, including tourism.

The day concluded with the debate “Emotional intelligence: a key differentiation tool?” moderated by Beatriz Pitarch, CCO of Roomtability, and featuring Jaume Orteu (4R Hotels) and Carme Gázquez (Verdalia). The discussion underlined the importance of emotional management and empathetic leadership as differentiating factors in customer relations and team motivation.

🌅 Day 2: Inspiration, values, and sustainable tourism

The day began with a dynamic yoga session to activate body and mind before the collaborative workshops. In these sessions, the clusters INDESCAT, INNOVI and AMBIT presented real challenges from their industries, which participants analyzed and addressed through teamwork and innovative thinking.

Later, Carlos Hernández, Group Vertical Director at TikTok, delivered a keynote on “Inspiring the digital traveler,” showcasing how social platforms are redefining the way people discover, plan, and experience travel.

Then, Toni Mascaró, CEO of eMascaró, shared his insights in “The keys to a WOW digital project,” followed by a panel moderated by Jordi Casassayas with Jaume Marín, Xavier Zuazola, and Joan Antoni Malonda, focusing on incorporating transversal values to build a sustainable tourism model with positive local impact.

The program continued with Íñigo Rivera from DAZN, who illustrated how the combination of technology, entertainment, and tourism, powered by big data, can create more personalized and memorable experiences.

Finally, Jordi Martí, president of ACAVe, moderated a round table on “Empowering the SMART traveler,” with Fabrizio Orlando and Sergi Anter. The panelists agreed that loyalty stems from deeply understanding the customer and placing them at the center of every decision.

👏🏻 From the organization, we want to express our most sincere gratitude to all attendees, speakers, and sponsors who made this edition possible.

A special acknowledgment goes to ACCIÓ for its ongoing support and to all sponsors: seQura, Nubemsystems, BeGuest, GuestPro, eMascaró, Ween, Roomtability, DEFCON8, Neobookings, Mylegalinbox, Serenissima Informatica, and BRAVA.

The Tech4Travel Summit 2025 thus closes an edition full of learning, collaboration, and future vision.

 👉 And if you’re already looking forward to more… don’t worry! We’re already preparing the 3rd edition, coming in 2026, with even more innovation and smart tourism.

 See you in 2026! 🚀