By the A.M. Costa Rica staff and wire services

The top solutions for accelerating the recovery of tourism have been celebrated in the “Healing Solutions for Tourism” Challenge, launched by the World Tourism Organization, UNWTO, on Sunday.

The event was also supported by the World Health Organization, WHO, and with the aim of identifying start-ups with ready-to-implement ideas for mitigating the impact of covid-19 on the sector, said UNWTO in its statement.

According to UNWTO, the initiative attracted more than 1,000 applicants from 100 countries.

Tourism has been among the hardest hit of all major economic sectors. To rebuild confidence in traveling and to enhance tourism’s contribution to wider societal recovery, UNWTO called on innovators to share their ideas for positive change.

Entrepreneurs pitched in three categories: Healing for People, Healing for Prosperity and Healing for Destinations.

"Over 1,100 applications were received and from the 30 shortlisted projects, nine were selected by a panel of sector leaders, including UNWTO Secretary-General Zurab Pololikashvili," said the organization in its statement.

In the category of Healing for People, the four finalists were CleanScan /Chameleon Welcome Back from Canada and the USA, Outpost Healthy Destinations from Canada, SeeTrue from Israel and Smart Occupancy from Spain.

In Healing for Prosperity, the two finalists were MyStay from the Czech Republic and WAAM from Poland.

The three finalists in Healing for Destinations were Airside from the U.S., Beautiful destinations also from the U.S. and iBonus covid-19 Digital Prevention System from Hong Kong and China.

“Tourism faces the biggest challenge of a generation. But, as this event shows, tourism can deliver solutions for all," Pololikashvili said. "We now have an opportunity to rethink tourism and do things better. Virtual reality, artificial intelligence and big data will all have a part to play in our joint response to covid-19, and in building resilience for the future."

This event was held from Madrid, Spain where UNWTO’s home base and the capital of one of the worst-hit of all European countries.

A full list of the shortlisted start-ups  and its ideas to face the pandemic crisis can be found on the UNWTO website.





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