Telefónica launches smart city project in the Canary Islands

Telefónica Empresas has launched its largest smart cities project in Spain in the Canary Islands.

Thirteen municipalities on the islands of Fuerteventura, Gran Canaria, Lanzarote, and Tenerife, grouped together in the Association of Tourist Municipalities of the Canary Islands (AMTC), will use the company’s technology to digitalise their tourism model.

Canary Green initiative

This project, Canary Green, enables the deployment of a mobile solution for tourists and residents of these cities. It incorporates five features that promote respect for the environment in the municipalities of Adeje, Antigua, Arona, Guía de Isora, La Oliva, Mogán, Pájara, Puerto de la Cruz, San Bartolomé de Tirajana, Santiago del Teide, Teguise, Tías, and Yaiza.

“Canary Green emerged from the realisation that environmental issues were attracting more tourists to the islands, incorporating a new tourism model that goes beyond the typical sun and sand and is in line with the Canary Islands’ decarbonisation programme,” said Carmen de Miguel y Barrio, head of the AMTC’s Technical General Secretariat. “With this approach, we can promote sustainable tourism while making a balanced use of our resources.”

The Canary Green app includes:

• A Green Alert, which makes it easy to inform authorities of incidents that impact the environment
• e-Maps, an interactive map with points of interest in the destination to find sustainable routes to reach the place you want to visit
• Good Market, a business platform that connects users with certified sustainable services and products from the local business ecosystem
• Green Backpack, a solution that calculates the carbon footprint generated during the visit and offers the possibility of offsetting it with other, more environmentally friendly actions
• Green Coins, a loyalty system that rewards tourists who make a sustainable use of their stay and can be exchanged for various local experiences, products, and services.

To launch the initiative, a modular Tourism Intelligence System (TIS) has been created. Deployed on top of Telefónica España’s platform for smart cities, Thinking City, it allows tourism managers to access a dashboard with all the data compiled in 12 indicators created specifically for this project, from various sources, such as government agencies and data from other portals. Some of the indicators relate to searches and bookings, tourist concentration, or overnight stays.