USE CASES

"Being one of the pilot destinations in the D3HUB, Arctic Norway Tourist Board has gained new important insight in order to further develop our regions. Learning from other members has been one of the key take aways. We are looking forward to putting this learning into practice through our action plan and other initiatives."

Agnete Stensland
Market Analyst, Arctic Norway Tourist Board

1. Introduction
Northern Norway, represented by the Arctic Norway Tourist Board, is a premier Arctic destination dedicated to establishing a sustainable, year-round tourism economy that directly supports local employment and community settlement. The tourist board functions as an umbrella organization representing 16 regional destination companies and an extensive network of local suppliers, facilitating seamless B2B connections, itinerary planning, and global promotional campaigns in collaboration with Visit Norway. Driven by a sophisticated approach to market intelligence, the destination has developed a robust data-driven ecosystem supported by an extensive 14-market target group model and an ongoing, destination-level guest survey that tracks target groups, travel patterns, activity preferences, and traveler satisfaction. Through its strategic activities, Northern Norway aims to enhance data-driven governance, foster a highly profitable and professional tourism business, and further advance its vision for sustainable, climate-resilient regional development.

2. Challenges
Northern Norway faces the challenge of balancing tourism growth with the preservation of its fragile Arctic environment and the well-being of its local population. Tourism is a strategic economic driver for the region, accounting for over 10% to 15% of total employment, but visitor flows and destination readiness are highly unequal across the territory. While major hubs like the city of Tromsø during winter and the Lofoten archipelago during summer struggle with increased pressure on local infrastructure, nature, and residents, other emerging areas desire tourism growth but lack the necessary accommodation capacity, transport infrastructure, and structured experiences. This fragmentation is further compounded by an increasing number of unregistered companies in high season, which dilutes quality standards and reduces local value creation. Additionally, the massive influx of visitors has severely strained the traditional Norwegian cultural heritage of the right to roam (allemannsretten), creating heavy burdens on both nature and local communities that require urgent action plans. Specific seasonal hazards also arise in the winter, where car rentals to visitors unaccustomed to driving on icy and snowy roads have triggered a strong demand for stricter regulations.

To address these challenges, Northern Norway’s strategy focuses on transforming the region into a sustainable, year-round destination by actively promoting shoulder seasons and encouraging longer stays that disperse visitors outside the main hubs. At the same time, the Arctic Norway Tourist Board has identified a critical need to strengthen its data-driven governance beyond the primary urban centers, as there is currently a lack of data available from less-developed areas to support essential political decision-making. While the organization already monitors a wide array of indicators and runs comprehensive guest and resident surveys, it requires more efficient methods to capture and implement variables for which no data collection system exists today. Through its participation in the D3HUB pilot, Northern Norway aims to collaborate with peer destinations facing similar challenges, discover innovative data collection methods, and create a specialized stakeholder team to design concrete indicators that will directly feed into sustainable destination strategies and infrastructure planning.

3. Pilot approach
Through the D3HUB pilot, Northern Norway developed an action plan to strengthen its data-driven destination management by transforming its continuous regional guest survey into a comprehensive monitoring system. Building on the methodologies and indicator sets presented during the D3HUB cluster webinars to support emerging areas, the pilot aims to address the region’s extreme territorial diversity and fragmentation. By updating the survey to capture critical data points—such as local infrastructure utilization, length of stay, and overtourism indicators the destination will complement its existing intelligence tools with metrics that evaluate tourism’s true impact outside the primary urban hubs. This strategic approach will utilize advanced solutions like AI-driven sentiment analysis of traveler feedback alongside the assessment of transactional and mobile data to monitor shifting tourist flows. This holistic framework allows the tourist board to effectively support both highly mature destinations struggling with seasonal pressure and emerging rural areas requiring strategic product and capacity growth.
The pilot also reinforces Northern Norway’s broader transition toward collaborative and evidence-based tourism governance. By integrating these localized data insights into standardized dashboards and interregional benchmarks, the destination seeks to create a healthy incentive for quality enhancement while bridging the gaps between local municipalities, destination management teams, and the private sector. These data-driven tools will provide the necessary political leverage at a national level to support essential infrastructure development, enforce regulations, and counteract the negative impacts of unregistered seasonal operators on the local economy. The initiative contributes directly to the D3HUB cluster priorities by empowering less-developed areas to attract quality and sustainable tourism, distributing traveler flows more evenly across space and time, and preserving the delicate Arctic natural environment and cultural heritage of the region for its residents.


Agnete Stensland
Market Analyst, Arctic Norway Tourist Board

“D3HUB has demonstrated that the combination of data, shared knowledge, and European cooperation can accelerate the transition towards a more resilient and sustainable tourism model.”

Héctor Fernández Manchado
CEO SPEL – Turismo Lanzarote

1. Introduction
The Island of Lanzarote (Canary Islands, Spain), represented by SPEL – Turismo Lanzarote, is a coastal island destination characterised by a strong dependence on tourism, which accounts for more than 15% of total employment, and by a well‑established international visitor profile attracted by its unique volcanic landscapes, natural heritage, and year‑round climate. Lanzarote is much more than a tourist destination; it is a territory that has successfully built its own development model over time, based on a careful balance between progress and conservation. The island has evolved with a clear vision: to grow without losing its essence, preserving its volcanic landscapes, biodiversity, and cultural identity. The island and its surrounding environment have been internationally recognised by UNESCO as a Biosphere Reserve (1993) and as the Lanzarote and Chinijo Archipelago Global Geopark (2015). Furthermore, in 2025, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) designated Lanzarote as a Globally Important Agricultural Heritage System (GIAHS), further reinforcing a model that values the relationship between people and their environment, as well as the active preservation of unique cultural landscapes. These recognitions reflect Lanzarote’s long-standing commitment to sustainability and its determination to safeguard its natural and cultural heritage while fostering a resilient and prosperous future for both residents and visitors. 

Lanzarote already collects a wide range of tourism and sustainability indicators and is increasingly integrating data-driven approaches into its governance. Strategic priorities focus on climate mitigation and adaptation, sustainable tourism, and digital transformation, supported by growing public–private collaboration to strengthen resilience and evidence-based decision-making. 

Lanzarote, through SPEL – Turismo Lanzarote, operates in a highly tourism‑dependent context where the sector drives the economy but also pressures fragile natural and social systems. As a public–private DMO under the Cabildo of Lanzarote, SPEL coordinates tourism development, sustainability strategies, and stakeholder engagement, aligning local priorities with regional and European goals. Within this context, the D3HUB cluster on climate mitigation and adaptation is especially relevant, given the island’s exposure to risks such as rising temperatures, water scarcity, coastal erosion, and ecosystem stress. Although Lanzarote has made progress in integrating data into tourism governance, tracking emissions, visitor flows, and economic performance, key gaps remain in building a coherent, interoperable system of sustainability metrics and linking data insights to operational decisions. Challenges also include limited access to private‑sector data, the need to strengthen internal analytical capacity, and the complexity of coordinating climate action across sectors like mobility, energy, and water. These issues affect both the DMO’s strategic planning and the wider tourism ecosystem, underscoring the need for a more integrated, data‑driven, and collaborative approach to climate governance. 

The D3HUB pilot and Action Plan support Lanzarote in addressing climate challenges through a strategic, data‑driven, and collaborative approach to tourism governance. Building on existing efforts, SPEL – Turismo Lanzarote is improving the integration of data sources, such as climate assessments, tourism intelligence, mobility, and visitor perceptions, to strengthen evidence‑based decision‑making and long‑term planning. A key goal is to consolidate these datasets into a coherent system to better measure environmental impacts, monitor sustainability, and implement the Climate Action Plan. 

Through D3HUB, Lanzarote benefits from peer learning, expert guidance, and shared methodologies, helping refine its approach to climate governance and sustainability measurement. The pilot contributes to improved data management, stronger analytical capacity, and enhanced stakeholder collaboration. Overall, it supports the transition toward a more resilient and climate‑aware tourism model. Planned actions include measuring and certifying the sector’s carbon footprint, developing emergency and evacuation plans (with staff training), and implementing early warning systems for residents and visitors via digital tools. 

Testimonial 
“Participating in D3HUB has been a valuable opportunity to strengthen the way Lanzarote integrates data into tourism management and decision-making related to sustainability and climate action. Beyond the tools and methodologies shared throughout the project, one of the most enriching aspects has been the exchange of experiences with other European destinations facing similar challenges. This process has enabled us to identify new opportunities for improvement, strengthen our strategic vision, and advance towards a more resilient, collaborative, and evidence-based tourism governance model. We are confident that the work carried out through D3HUB will continue to generate knowledge, foster cooperation, and drive innovation in support of the transition of tourism destinations towards more sustainable and future-ready models.” 

 

Héctor Fernández Manchado
CEO SPEL – Turismo Lanzarote

"“Our work with D3HUB focused on turning information into a roadmap for impactful tourism policy."

Lucia Leonardi  
Officer at the Department for Tourism of the Province of Trento

1. Introduction
Trentino, represented in this project by the Autonomous Province of Trento and its DMO “Trentino Marketing”, is a mountain destination in northern Italy with a strong tourism economy, a multi-level governance model, and a network of 12 local tourism boards. Tourism plays a strategic role in the region’s development, accounting for a significant share of employment and attracting approximately 34 million overnight stays annually in a territory of around 500,000 residents. The destination has developed a growing data-driven tourism ecosystem supported by tools such as the Trentino Dashboard and Trentino Guest Platform, alongside initiatives focused on artificial intelligence, mobility monitoring, and sustainable tourism management. Through its participation in D3HUB, Trentino aims to strengthen collaboration, enhance data-driven governance, and further advance its strategic vision for sustainable mountain tourism management.

2. Challenges
Trentino faces the challenge of balancing tourism growth with residents’ well-being and the preservation of its mountain environment. Tourism is one of the region’s main economic drivers, but visitor flows are unevenly distributed across the territory and strongly concentrated during peak winter and summer seasons. This creates pressure on mobility, parking availability, housing access, and local infrastructure in specific areas. The rapid growth of tourist apartments and short-term rentals has also become a concern, contributing to rising living costs and making it difficult for residents and seasonal workers to find accommodation. To address these challenges, the guiding principle is to consider Trentino as a place to be lived in and chosen year-round: a destination to visit, but even more so, a territory to inhabit. In this context, Trentino’s strategy is to grow in volume during the shoulder seasons, which are currently less saturated, while focusing on increasing value rather than volume during the peak summer and winter periods. 

At the same time, Trentino identified the need to strengthen its capacity for data-driven tourism governance and improve the understanding of the relationship between residents and visitors. While the destination already manages a broad range of tourism indicators and digital monitoring tools, there remains limited data on residents’ perceptions and quality of life. Through participation in the D3HUB pilot, Trentino aims to enhance collaboration, exchange best practices with other European destinations, and further develop a shared tourism data observatory to support more balanced, sustainable, and evidence-based tourism policies.

3.Pilot approach
Through the D3HUB pilot, Trentino developed an action plan to strengthen the social dimension of its tourism governance by introducing a structured system to monitor residents’ perceptions of tourism across the province. Building on the methodologies presented during the D3HUB webinars to measure residents’ perception through surveys, such as the Tourism Acceptance Score (TAS) and the Resident Empowerment Through Tourism Scale (RETS), the pilot aims to complement Trentino’s existing tourism intelligence ecosystem with resident-centered indicators related to quality of life, tourism acceptance, and perceived social, cultural, environmental, and economic impacts. This approach supports a more holistic understanding of sustainability beyond traditional tourism performance metrics. 

The pilot also reinforces Trentino’s broader transition toward evidence-based and data-driven destination management. By integrating residents’ perceptions into existing dashboards and sustainability monitoring systems, the destination seeks to improve policymaking, stakeholder engagement, and long-term planning for balanced mountain tourism development. The initiative contributes directly to the D3HUB cluster priorities by promoting better coexistence between residents and visitors, strengthening social sustainability, and supporting governance models that combine tourism competitiveness with community well-being and territorial resilience. 

4. Testimonial
Participating in the D3HUB project proved to be a transformative experience, merging technical tourism data training with high-level professional exchange that aligned our local practices with European standards. Beyond the valuable peer-learning and international networking, the pilot catalyzed a critical methodological shift in how we analyze resident perceptions; we realized that moving past general sentiment to measure true resident empowerment is essential for sustainable growth. This “cultural adjustment” regarding data usage has redefined our approach, transitioning residents from passive observers to active stakeholders and prompting a long-term commitment to refining our survey tools. By implementing more nuanced data collection and maintaining our dialogue with European partners, we are ensuring that our data serves not just as a technical metric, but as a strategic roadmap for a more inclusive and cutting-edge tourism ecosystem.

Lucia Leonardi
Officer at the Department for Tourism of the Province of Trento 

"Participating in the D3HUB pilot has shown us how collaboration and shared learning can accelerate digital innovation and create lasting value for all stakeholders."

Ana Ramírez Moreno 
Turismo de Sevilla 

1. Introduction
Sevilla is one of the leading urban tourism destinations in Spain and Southern Europe, combining a rich cultural heritage, internationally recognised events, and a diversified tourism offer including leisure, gastronomy, and MICE tourism. The city ranks among the top three most visited destinations in Spain and is supported by a well-established ecosystem of tourism services, infrastructure, and governance. 

With a population of around 690,000 inhabitants, Sevilla receives approximately 4 million tourists and generates over 8 million overnight stays annually, making tourism a key economic pillar. The destination is highly internationalised, with major source markets including the United States, France, Italy, and the United Kingdom, alongside domestic visitors mainly from Andalusia and Madrid. The typical visitor is an urban cultural tourist, generally aged 30–64, with medium-to-high income and education levels, travelling for short stays (2–3 nights) and motivated by culture, gastronomy, and major events. 

Sevilla is also a digitally advanced destination. Since the launch of the Smart Tourism Office in 2021, the city has deployed the System of Tourism Intelligence (SIT), which uses big data, real-time monitoring, and predictive analytics to support evidence-based decision-making. Its tourism strategy is framed around a triple sustainability approach (social, economic, and environmental) and a “shared city” model, aiming to ensure a balanced development of tourism while maintaining residents’ quality of life. 

 2. Challenges
Sevilla’s Destination Management Organisation (Turismo de Sevilla) operates in a context of high tourism intensity and increasing complexity. While significant progress has been made in digitalisation through the Smart Tourism Office and SIT, the main challenge lies in moving from data availability to fully operational, coordinated action across stakeholders and municipal departments. 

The D3HUB cluster on “redistributing tourist flows in space and time” is particularly relevant, as tourism demand in Sevilla remains highly concentrated both spatially and temporally. Visitor flows are largely focused in the historic centre (e.g. Cathedral–Alcázar axis, Santa Cruz), while demand peaks occur during specific periods such as Semana Santa, Feria de Abril, and the high season. This concentration places considerable pressure on infrastructure, cultural heritage, and public space, while also affecting residents’ quality of life and overall visitor experience. 

Key challenges include: 

  • High visitor density and tourism pressure in central areas 
  • Strong temporal peaks and pronounced seasonality patterns 
  • Limited diversification of visitor flows across neighbourhoods and time periods 
  • Need to strengthen resident engagement and foster acceptance of tourism-related policies 
  • Remaining gaps in data integration (tourism, mobility, sustainability) and cross-sector coordination 

 

Overall, Sevilla is working to translate its advanced data capabilities into effective, real-time management solutions that support a more balanced and sustainable distribution of tourism activity. 

 3. Pilot Approach
The Sevilla pilot contributes to the D3HUB objectives by leveraging and further operationalising existing digital infrastructure, particularly the Smart Tourism Office and SIT, rather than developing new systems. The focus is on strengthening the integration and practical use of data to support a more balanced distribution of visitor flows in space and time. 

The pilot explored new approaches to combining multiple data sources (e.g. sensors, mobile data, points of interest) and improving their usability through integrated dashboards and advanced visualisation tools. It also emphasised the importance of strengthening stakeholder alignment by identifying effective practices for communicating redistribution strategies, supporting collaboration across municipal departments and with the private sector, and enhancing the evaluation of interventions such as alternative routing or demand management measures. 

Key learnings include: 

  • The importance of integrated dashboards combining tourism, mobility, and sustainability data 
  • The effectiveness of area-based flow analysis to support targeted redistribution strategies (e.g. promotion of alternative neighbourhoods, density monitoring in high-demand areas) 
  • The role of events, MICE, and cultural programming in addressing seasonal demand patterns and encouraging a more even distribution of visitation over time 
  • The need to incorporate resident and visitor perception indicators to support social acceptance and monitor impacts 

As a result, Sevilla’s Action Plan focuses on strengthening the integration, visualisation, and operational use of tourism data, with the overall objective of supporting a more balanced and sustainable distribution of visitor flows, while enhancing governance, stakeholder coordination, and community engagement.

 

Ana Ramírez Moreno 
Turismo de Sevilla