UNWTO announces the winning startups of the Awake Tourism Challenge

01-02-23

UNWTO has announced the winners of its Awake Tourism Challenge, which rewards startups that are reshaping the sector in all regions of the world.

This is the second edition of UNWTO's global competition for startups focused on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Participants were judged on their contribution to the development of an inclusive, resilient and sustainable tourism sector, focusing on six main areas:

• Engaging local communities

• Green and blue economy

• Green and sustainable capital creation

• Positive tourism technology

• Tourism education

Empowering womenUNWTO Secretary-General Zurab Pololikashvili said: "Tourism startups have the capacity and agility to transform the sector in line with the Sustainable Development Goals. All the winners of the UNWTO Awake Tourism Challenge have the potential to help build a more inclusive and resilient sector, and we look forward to supporting them as they grow in size and influence".

Tourism startups have the capacity and agility to transform the sector in line with the Sustainable Development Goals.

Winners from all regions of the world

The competition attracted more than 2,000 entries from 120 countries around the world. The largest number of entries came from Europe, the Americas and Africa, followed by Asia-Pacific and the Middle East. An expert jury selected 30 finalists and 15 winners.

Reflecting the breadth of talent in the global tourism sector, the winning startups are Coastruction (The Netherlands), Noytrall (Portugal), SmArt Tourism and Hospitality Consulting (Panama), Quantum Temple (USA), Socialbnb (Germany), Quantum Temple (USA) and Socialbnb (Germany). ), Socialbnb (Germany), Instituto de Accesibilidad (Spain), Kamatjona (Namibia), Baahdy & Birdy (Norway), WeavAir (Singapore), r3charge (Germany), Impact Innovations Institute (Armenia), NomadHer (South Korea), Murmuration (France), Evelity by Okeenea Digital (France) and Accessible Qatar (Qatar). The projects were recognised for offering an innovative service with high customer value, especially with high levels of youth engagement, as well as involvement of local communities. The startups were also recognised for their use of technology to monitor and manage the environmental impact of tourism activity. More information on the winners and finalists can be found on the competition website. 

A winning network

The winning startups will be offered a three-month incubation period at SPARK Crans-Montana, the Les Roches Innovation Centre of the Sommet Education group, where they will participate in mentoring and networking activities and have access to a VR lab, digital studio and coworking space. In addition, they will receive scholarships to the UNWTO Tourism Online Academy, be included in the UNWTO Top Innovators catalogue, be featured in a global communication campaign to raise awareness of each winner and be invited to participate in mentoring with project partners.

The competition was organised in collaboration with Wakalua, the first global innovation hub for tourism, powered by Ávoris, and was strongly supported by renowned tourism experts and partners, including; SPARK, Les Roches Innovation Hub of Sommet Education Group, Amadeus, IE University, NEST, KPMG, MasterCard, Telefonica, Wayra, ClarkeModet, The FarCo, BBVA, MentorDay, Finnova, Google for Startups, the Valley Digital Business School, the Future Food Institute, the Inter-American Development Bank and the Singapore Tourism Board.

Innovation as a priority

In 2022, UNWTO celebrated five years of its Innovation, Education and Innovation Department. In that time, UNWTO has made innovation one of its top priorities, having convened 23 competitions and challenges, as well as held nine Tourism Tech Adventures and created an innovation network of over 11,500 stakeholders from all areas of this diverse sector.