CAST Virtual Hackathon awarded first place to ‘SafeTourism’ from Algarve DIH, an application which provides tourists with real-time information on the safest tourist activities and businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic. Their solution uses location data and user-sourced ratings to support the safety of tourists by advising if an area is too busy, suggesting quiet alternatives, and informing them of how well businesses follow regulations. SafeTourism helps tourists to stay safe and feel confident during this time – successfully tackling a key challenge to the revival of the tourism sector.

The CAST Virtual Hackathon organised and hosted by EBN, with the support of EBN Member WestBIC and CBN, saw over 130 active participants from more than 26 countries work together over three days with the support of industry expert mentors to create, digital or tech solutions that enable deployment of safe, innovative, and sustainable tourist and traveller experiences.

The event was supported extensively by a number of partners including the DG Grow and DG CNECT from European Commission, Digital Innovation Hubs, Booking.com, UNWTO, CAST Consortium and EBN members.

About CAST

Creative Accelerators for Sustainable Tourism (CAST) is a 3-year project co-funded by the European Commission COSME programme. The ten partners balanced evenly across the EU bring together extensive experience in working with creative and tourism enterprises across Europe and stimulating their creation, growth and internationalisation. CAST aims to provide incubation & acceleration support to sustainable tourism start-ups and SMEs to grow and scale.