The SMART MED project is framed within the European program Interreg Mediterranean, the target of which is to reduce the existing disparities among different European regions in terms of environmental sustainability and socioeconomic development. The project counts on the leadership of the Ministry of Tourism of Croatia and the participation of 12 partners from Croatia, Slovenia, Spain, France, Greece, Italy, Montenegro and Portugal. Its main objective is to increase the attractiveness and competitiveness of Mediterranean tourist destinations, promoting their intelligent, inclusive and sustainable development.

The linkage between tourism and technological sectors has become increasingly evident in the last years, both in terms of the appearance of smart destinations and the arrival of smart tourists. However, most urban tourist destinations face challenges due to the lack of information and statistics to analyze the impact of tourism and the overcrowding of specific tourist areas. Bearing this in mind, the objective of SMART MED is to implement tourist models based on the individual experiences related to tourism of each of the destinations involved, in order to adapt the services offered to the real necessities of tourists and to the specific reality of each city.

The Barcelona Metropolitan Area (AMB) wants to embrace SMART MED as an opportunity to design and implement an information and data collection system that will allow its transformation into a smart tourism destination (STD). The project will have a total duration of 34 months (from September 2019 to June 2022) and will offer the AMB the chance to develop this system through a pilot test.