Terms & Conditions

Annex I

Title of the project: 2nd UNWTO Tourism Startup Competition, in partnership with Globalia

Country/countries of execution: Global

Terms and conditions – 2nd UNWTO Tourism Startup Competition, in partnership with Globalia

  1. Introduction / Background

    The World Tourism Organization (hereinafter, “UNWTO”), in partnership with Globalia, in line with its commitment to innovation and the promotion of entrepreneurship in tourism, is holding the first edition of the Tourism Startup Competition.

    Both the UNWTO and Globalia have among their objectives to strengthen the entrepreneurial ecosystem and boost innovation in the tourism sector.

    The proposed global competition makes it possible to promote the tourism industry through innovation, by giving opportunities to startups from around the world to present their projects, and providing access to a series of benefits within the framework of the FITUR Tourism Fair to be held in Madrid in January 2020.

    The UNWTO is the United Nations agency responsible for the promotion of responsible, sustainable and accessible tourism for all.

    The UNWTO, as the leading international organization in the field of tourism, advocates tourism that contributes to economic growth, inclusive development and environmental sustainability, and offers leadership and support to the sector to expand its knowledge and tourism policies throughout the world.

    Its members include 158 countries, 6 Associate Members and more than 500 Affiliate Members representing the private sector, educational institutions, tourism associations and local tourism authorities.

    One of the current priorities of UNWTO is to promote connections among the actors that form part of the entrepreneurship and innovation ecosystem in tourism as a means for the generation of employment and business opportunities, as well as for the sustainable development of the sector.

    Globalia is the largest travel and tourism group in Spain. It comprises a number of independent companies that are leaders in their markets, including Air Europa (airline), Halcón Viajes (travel agencies), Travelplan (tour operator), Be Live (hotel chain) and Groundforce (airport management).

  2. Target audience

    The purpose of this competition is to capture the attention of a large number of startups in the sector from among the UNWTO Member States and to facilitate the selection of those that are most relevant to the global tourism sector.

    The projects will be selected based on various criteria, such as the degree of disruptiveness and maturity of the product, its viability, scalability, sustainability and its interest for potential investors.

  3. Participants

    This competition is aimed at all projects of UNWTO Member States that are at an early stage of development (hereinafter, “Early Stage”) and those that are more consolidated, especially at the Series A stage, (hereinafter, “Growth”). The competition is open to all entrepreneurs, whether individuals or legal entities, of legal age and with the legal capacity to enter into a contract. The only requirements are those established in Clause 4 of this document.

    The projects must be focused on one (or several) of the following areas:

    • Smart Destinations
    • Smart Mobility
    • Distruptive Hospitality
    • Deep Technology (location and geolocation)
    • Rural Development

  4. Requirements

    1. The 2nd UNWTO Tourism Startup Competition will focus on two main categories (early and growth), with the following requirements to participate:
      • Innovative/disruptive nature identified
      • Scalability potential within the business
      • Validated business model
      • Market penetration
      • Entrepreneur/promoter team: Suitability of the promoter team, motivation and interest

      In addition, other selection requirements will be evaluated, such as:

      • Market and sector: Market potential; interest of the project
      • Sustainability: an attribute that should be implemented in the services, business model, and solutions
      • Corporate Social Responsibility: business contribution
    2. The representative must be a natural person, of legal age and with legal capacity to enter into a contract.Not having been convicted by a final judgement, for intentional crimes, with a penalty of six months or more, insofar as the criminal responsibility has not expired.Participants who, initially or at any point during the programme, fail to meet any of these requirements, may be excluded from the acceleration programme, losing any option to receive any service and without the right to claim anything from the UNWTO and other partners.

      The data that participants provide when registering in the programme must be true, and therefore any participants whose data is incorrect or incomplete shall lose any option to participate in the programme and to receive any service.

      The organizers of the Programme reserve the right not to accept or to remove from the programme, without prior notice, any participants who, in their opinion, act fraudulently, in an abusive manner, or in a manner contrary to the spirit of the programme, the principles of the United Nations or the law, third-party rights and/or good faith. Likewise, any participant or related person whose action may be contrary to the reputation or good name of the UNWTO or Globalia may be removed.

      None of the above actions shall entitle any participant or potential participant to any right or claim whatsoever for damages, expenses incurred, etc.

    3. The candidatures must contain the following information:
      • Online registration form available on the website https://www.tourismstartups.org. Applicants must complete in English all the required fields requested in the form.
    4. Exclusion from participation:Those who do not comply with any of the requirements established in these terms and conditions will not be able to participate, with UNWTO and/or GLOBALIA having the right to exclude those who do not meet the established requirements, or even not to deliver the prize, as the case may be. Employees of UNWTO and, in general, employees of any of the companies of the Globalia group may not participate.

      Minors are excluded from participating in the competition. Neither UNWTO nor GLOBALIA shall be liable for any false, inaccurate, obsolete, incomplete or erroneous data submitted by the participants. In such a case, the participant shall be automatically excluded from the competition, and also lose the right to the enjoyment of the prize, and shall not be entitled to make claims against UNWTO or GLOBALIA.

      The startups that do not have travel insurance will not be able to participate in the final.

  5. Selection process

    1. The period for the submission of projects will begin on 12 September 2019 and end at 00:00 on 15 November 2020.
    2. The tentative calendar2 is as follows:
      • Launch of the competition: 12 September 2019
      • Deadline for candidatures: 15 November 2019
      • Competition of finalist startups in FITUR: 22 to 26 January 2020
      • Announcement of the winning startup: 22 to 26 January 2020
    3. The selection criteria that will be used shall be the following:
      • Ease of value capture via collaboration with the startup: viability of collaboration / agile implementation in the short-medium term for co-development of products/services, optimizing the use of existing resources/infrastructure and ability to scale the product.
      • Potential business impact: potential scalability / financial return and / or development of competitive advantages for the business in the short-medium term (e.g., access to new technologies, access to technical profiles, etc.)
      • Maturity of the product/technology: Degree of comparative disruptiveness / innovation in the sector (global level); Degree of maturity of the MVP, technology or current product; Scalability potential within the business (leveraging existing resources, infrastructure, geographies, etc.); Potential value capture for the business.
      • Maturity of the team and the organization: CV of the founders / team; Degree of maturity of the business (e.g., alliances / partners, initial investments, customers, initial sales, etc.); Need for capital (e.g., funds to develop product, deadlines to finalize MVP etc.); Entrepreneurial motivation and personal interests of the founders; Internal organization and processes (e.g., use of lean / scrum methodologies, use of outsourcing)
      • Partnership Readiness: Experience in co-development of products (e.g., Collaboration with universities, companies, etc.); Experience as a provider (e.g., sale of consulting services or part of development to a third company, experience in understanding third-party problems / defined by a third party); Motivation / interest in collaborating with a corporation.
      • Sustainability: an attribute that should be implemented in the services, business model, or solutions, to avoid or minimize the environmental, economic and social impact produced by the business activity.
    4. Based on the criteria mentioned in the previous clause, an initial screening and filtering of all participating projects will be carried out through the Muehlemann-popp platform. The first pre-selection will yield between 30 and 50 startups that will go through the next selection process mentioned in clause 5.5
    5. The Selection Committee will be appointed by UNWTO and Globalia, and the partner of the challenge. It will be composed of an international network of investors, entrepreneurs and experts from UNWTO Member States and UNWTO Affiliates and strategic allies. This Committee will evaluate the proposals and carry out the selection of 15 finalists. The list of selected projects will be announced on December 16th, and the selected participants will be notified individually by e-mail.
    6. The 15 finalist projects will have the opportunity to attend the International Tourism Fair (FITUR), which will take place in Madrid, Spain, between 22 and 26 January 2020, where they will receive the following benefits:
      • Global visibility through UNWTO and Globalia channels
      • Travel and accommodation expenses to Madrid, Spain, for one representatives per team, for 2 nights
      • Access, during the visit to FITUR 2019, to contacts of investors and potential clients, in the case this is considered appropriate for each beneficiary startup.
      • Participation in a demo day on the occasion of FITUR, where the best tourism startup of 2019 will be decided.
        • Global visibility thanks to the network of UNWTO Members
        • Travel and accommodation expenses to Budapest, Hungary, for one representative per startup, for two nights
        • Access to the pitching stage
        • Access to meetings with international investors, representatives of tourism ministries, companies and media
        • One-to-one meetings. The UNWTO will support startups to arrange meetings with international delegations, investors, media, entrepreneurs and corporations in attendance
    7. The winner in each challenge will go on to participate in a work process for the design of a pilot with the partner of the challenge, after that the partner will decide on whether or not to implement the pilot project derived from said work process. The partner reserves the right to implement the pilot.
    8. There is the possibility for UNWTO and Globalia to invite certain pre-selected startups to any activity where the programme is disseminated. It will be at such time when the startups will decide whether or not to attend.

  6. Industrial and Intellectual Property and Protection of Personal Data

    In case the processing of personal data is necessary for the running of the Programme, the organizers of the programme assume the following commitments:

    • To use the data communicated solely for the purpose of the startup competition.
    • To ensure that the persons authorized to process personal data shall undertake to respect confidentiality and that the data will not be communicated to unauthorized third parties.
    • To take all necessary measures to provide a level of security appropriate to the risk that may arise from the processing of personal data and ensure the safety and integrity thereof, as well as to prevent their alteration, loss, accidental or unlawful destruction, treatment, disclosure or unauthorized access.
    • If there is another entity in charge of processing, to impose the same protection obligations established in the applicable regulations.
    • The participant may exercise his rights of access, rectification, cancellation and opposition by sending a postal mail to the registered office of the Organizer indicated in the heading of the present Legal Bases or sending an email to the address comm@unwto.org to contact the Organizer indicating the right that you want to exercise and attaching a copy of your Passport, National Identity Document (DNI) or equivalent documentation.

    The participant expressly consents, and this through the mere fact of participating in the Programme presented herein, that UNWTO / Globalia may use of his / her name in order to make the winning project known to the rest of the participants and without any remuneration being generated in his/her favour.

    In submitting their applications, the project promoters guarantee that:

    • The projects are original of their authors and/or they have free disposal or ownership over them. Participants undertake to exempt the organizers from any responsibility and hold them free of liability with respect to any legal action, claim or demand that may be filed in relation to intellectual property rights or personal data of third parties with respect to the projects they submit.
    • In the event that the projects are a unitary result of the collaboration of several participants, the project will be treated as a collaborative work, with the resulting rights belonging to all of them as co-authors.
    • The participant authorizes UNWTO/Globalia to upload the project summary to their respective official websites, and accepts that visitors to the web pages have access to said information in accordance with the conditions of use of said website.
    • The participant authorizes the use by UNWTO/Globalia of the name and title of his/her project, without time limit, for the purpose of being mentioned on the website or for any actions or events related in any way with UNWTO/Globalia, as well as for its recording in the historical archives and storage media of diverse nature of UNWTO/Globalia and linked to the programme.
    • The UNWTO/Globalia shall not claim any ownership over the information offered or any industrial or intellectual property it may contain. The participant does not assign to the UNWTO/Globalia industrial or intellectual property rights derived from the projects.
    • The participant expressly authorizes UNWTO/Globalia to use their personal information with the objective of sharing information with them regarding events and activities that may be of their interest.
    • The participants accept their transfer of data to the UNWTO once the contest has ended.

  7. Final considerations

    This Programme may be modified, interrupted and/or cancelled if there are justified circumstances that so warrant. Likewise, UNWTO and Globalia reserve the right to declare all or any of the benefits unawarded, in the event that no submitted project meets the expected quality, in the opinion of the decision-making team.

  8. Acceptance of the terms and conditions

    Mere participation in the Competition implies the acceptance of the entire content of these Terms and Conditions. The non-acceptance of any of the points that make up these Terms and Conditions supposes non-participation in the Competition and, in the event of being selected and/or being declared the winner, the automatic waiver of the prize.

  9. Applicable Law

    These Terms and Conditions shall be interpreted in accordance with the general principles of international law, to the exclusion of any specific national law.

    Nothing in these Terms and Conditions or in relation to them shall be construed as a waiver of the privileges and immunities of the UNWTO.