Fundación Punta Begoña is part of a select group of Basque entities accredited after an intensive tourism audit process.
Basquetour, the Basque Tourism Agency, has launched the strategy to lead the digital and sustainable transformation of tourism in Euskadi, and to strengthen its position as an international benchmark for smart tourism. To this end, throughout 2024 and 2025 it has developed a demanding audit process aimed at verifying, in selected entities, commitments to innovation, universal accessibility, sustainability and the smart use of data.
For months, AENOR has been verifying how each of the proposed entities complied with the UNE 178510 Smart Tourism Company (ETI) standard in all its sections. This standard organises the aforementioned commitments and, in doing so, guarantees improvements in the competitiveness of the resource and the territory and, above all, in the quality of the visitor experience.
Smart tourism is a model that goes beyond simple tourism promotion: it incorporates technology and innovation in order to ensure sustainable development through data management, collaborative governance and universal accessibility.
The most practical objectives of the UNE 178510 Smart Tourism Company standard are to make it easier for visitors to integrate with their surroundings and to increase the quality of their experience at the destination, while improving the quality of life of local residents.
The project to restore the Punta Begoña Galleries is not a specifically tourist resource, but it has oriented its activity towards achieving the smart tourism objectives set by the World Tourism Organization.
The project website, puntabegonagetxo.eus, shares with society, in real time, its progress, evolution and achievements; the activities offered and carried out; the studies undertaken and their results; and the planning envisaged and completed, in a clear exercise in transparent and accessible management. It includes practical information, but also historical, scientific, artistic and architectural content, as well as visits and three-dimensional and interactive virtual tools that improve the quality of the visitor experience, provide high-quality and distinctive educational material, and offer an accessible experience at source and, progressively, at the destination.
Once there, the monument integrates into the visit audiovisual recreations that use cutting-edge technological resources to bring architecture, art and history closer to different generations.
With the aim of strengthening its social commitment in relation to local and visiting audiences, Fundación Punta Begoña Fundazioa submitted the project for evaluation by the external consultancy SGS International regarding compliance with the Sustainable Development Goals. In areas linked to smart tourism, the effectiveness of its work was verified (and confirmed) in matters such as knowledge transfer, training, contributing to the creation of liveable cities, or contributing to socio-economic development through attracting visitors.
Since its establishment in 2021, Fundación Punta Begoña Fundazioa’s approach to the tourism factor has been aligned with the criteria endorsed by the World Tourism Organization.
The cutting-edge technology used to be enjoyed at source seeks, above all, to “break through the screen” so that the user, through their knowledge, immerses themselves in a unique space and history such as Punta Begoña’s; and, once on site, to surprise and spark the curiosity and interaction of each visitor with the real landscape and the history evoked virtually, as well as the connection with other places.
Tourism will only be smart if it facilitates and improves the human experience.
Such approaches and their development have been taken into account by the AENOR certification, which is added to those previously received as an effective entity in meeting the SDGs, a model of ethical and sustainable tourism, as well as its classification as a priority tourism resource in Bizkaia.
