As part of the Year of Tourism and Rural Development, the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) has launched the first innovation competition to promote the generation of disruptive solutions to rural Spain's challenges, strengthen the role of tourism in addressing local problems, and place an emphasis on greater employment and entrepreneurship opportunities based on economic, social and environmental sustainability.

With the support of the Government of Spain, the Federation of Rural Women's Associations (FADEMUR) and Google, this initiative has received 136 applications covering 18 of the 19 Autonomous Communities and solutions in the form of services, business models and software.

With the support of:

"Globally, poverty is astonishingly rural. If we really want to drive growth and development, we must look outside our cities and work together to help even the smallest community to take part in the many and varied benefits tourism can bring"

Zurab Pololikashvili,
UNWTO Secretary-General