Tenerife to Become a Cyber-Secure Tourism Destination

Tenerife is a major international travel and tourism destination in Spain and part of the Canary Island group. Cyber Security is a concern.

Tenerife Tourism is making process in the implementation of the island’s Cybersecurity Tourism Master Plan (PDTC), the first of its kind to be adopted by a Spanish destination, which will enable the cybersecurity of the tourism sector to be strengthened.

As reported last week, jobs in tourism cyber security went up 54% worldwide, and Tenerife is no exception.

Following last week’s meeting, the tourism board explained the plan’s benefits and how the business sector will benefit due to ongoing digital threats.

The conference was attended by the CEO of Tenerife Tourism, David Pérez; the head of the strategic sector of Tourism and Leisure of the National Institute of Cybersecurity (INCIBE), Marco Antonio Lozano; and cybersecurity specialist and CEO of Hakron, Igor Lukic.

The hotel sector was represented by the general manager of Spring Hotels Groups, Miguel Villarroya; the CEO of Hotel Urban Anaga, Olga Cabrera; and the director of information security at NH Hoteles, Nuria Lago.

The Plan aims to create a tourist and technological ecosystem that favors companies to provide technical and legal security to visitors in the digital world. To this end, it contemplates the continuous evaluation of companies to identify vulnerabilities in their services and applications.

The main objective of today’s conference was to make companies aware of the importance of participating in the plan and to warn about the digital threats to which the sector is exposed, using actual cases as examples.

Cybersecurity Technical Office

The Plan includes 17 actions, which will be developed over four years. In addition, a Technical Office of Tourist Cybersecurity will be created, the governing body of the island’s cybersecurity for the tourist sector, and will be managed by Tourism of Tenerife.

The initial phase of the Plan contemplates the creation of a technical and advisory committee to deal with reputational crises of the destination due to cybersecurity incidents, the development of an advisory program for SMEs with the Chamber of Commerce, and the promotion of ICT skills programs for the improvement of employment linked to cybersecurity, together with the University of La Laguna and vocational training centers.

The second year will see the creation and development of cybersecurity training and technical awareness plans, a digital maturity monitoring system, and promotion of the island as a cybersecurity destination. 

Third, market and advisory studies on technological equipment will be carried out, and Tenerife Smart Destination projects will be promoted.

Finally, in the fourth year, the aim is to achieve total standardization of the development of each line implemented, consolidating the development and continuity of all the lines of action.

These measures will be aimed at the 670 hotels, apartments, rural hotels, and houses in Tenerife.