Dublin City Council and Mastercard have signed an agreement to formalise the entity’s membership in the Mastercard Tourism Innovation Hub (the Hub). This agreement is part of the city’s designation as European Capital of Smart Tourism 2024. It will facilitate access to innovative Mastercard solutions and identify potential projects of interest to benefit Dublin’s tourism economy assisting to advance the city’s new Tourism Strategy 2023-2028.
The European Capital of Smart Tourism recognises outstanding achievements by European cities as tourism destinations in four categories:
- sustainability
- accessibility
- digitalisation
- cultural heritage and creativity
Dublin won the European Capital of Smart Tourism 2024 title in recognition of its commitment to smart and sustainable tourism in the European Union, winning out of over 30 other European destinations.Dublin was also shortlisted for the award in 2021.
Based in Madrid and powered by Mastercard’s data insights and technology expertise, the Tourism Innovation Hub collaborates with governments and destination management organisations to accelerate their digitalization efforts, as well as innovate, research, and co-create solutions across the tourism ecosystem.
The collaboration between Dublin City Council and Mastercard will focus on driving tourism innovation through the destination tourism strategy, brand and communication, traveller journey digitalisation, sustainability, and resource management. Access to the Tourism Innovation Hub will also connect the city of Dublin with Mastercard’s virtual community forum. The forum brings together a range of global locations, sharing best practice and gaining access to events, training, webinars and more.
It follows Mastercard’s successful partnership with Seville, 2023’s European Capital of Smart Tourism which included data insights to measure tourism sustainability, marketing campaigns highlighting the authentic experience of Seville, a ‘smart streets’ campaign and economic impact assessment of the Latin Grammys.
“At Mastercard, we believe public-private partnerships are essential in furthering innovation across the tourism industry. We are delighted to welcome Dublin City Council as the newest member of Mastercard’s Tourism Innovation Hub and look forward to co-creating solutions to further Dublin’s Smart Tourism objectives,” said Solveig Honore-Hatton, Senior Vice President, Europe Government Engagement.
“We are very excited to be partnering with Mastercard’s Tourism Innovation Hub under our designation as the European Capital of Smart Tourism. We have seen first-hand in Seville how Mastercard have brought together destination leaders, tourism industry and city officials to imbed best practices and create real tourism innovation.” said Barry Rogers, Head of Dublin Cities Tourism Unit.
Jamie Cudden Head of Smart Cities, Dublin City Council said “Dublin City Council has a long and established track record of collaborating with Mastercard under initiatives such as our Dublin Economic Monitor. We are delighted to partner with the Mastercard Tourism Innovation hub this year as part of our European Capital of Smart Tourism designation. We look forward to working with them together with our tourism industry partners to create a lasting legacy of tourism innovation in the city.”
As part of the new partnership Dublin City Council and Mastercard will bring together destination leaders from across Europe to explore how Mastercard solutions can help drive the development of smarter and more sustainable destinations. A dedicated workshop will be held in the new Dublin City Council Tourism Innovation Hub in the CHQ building in Dublin in June of this year.
About Mastercard’s Tourism Innovation Hub
Launched in 2023, the Tourism Innovation Hub builds on Mastercard’s long-standing commitment to the travel and tourism industry to facilitate safe, secure, and simple payments infrastructure and build loyalty to connect, protect, and inspire travelers. With over 15 members across the world, the Hub fosters collaborative public-private partnerships to create a more sustainable, inclusive, and resilient tourism industry.