NEWS

TRIA, The AI of Sports Tourism, is now operational. The platform can connect aggregated and anonymous data from sports and accommodation applications to help destination managers and companies understand how, when and where sport is practised in the province of Girona, initially, and make evidence-based decisions.

The TRIA pilot project is driven by INDESCAT and the Tech Tourism Cluster, with the support of ACCIÓ and the collaboration of the Costa Brava Girona Tourism Board, Ocisport, Agenda Sports, SAEE Consulting, INLEA and Business Insights.

Scattered data, decisions made blindly

Sports tourism generates thousands of data points every day through route-planning applications, sports watches and booking platforms. However, this information is fragmented and often unreliable. The result is limited visibility of sports activity, difficulties in optimising resources and promotional actions carried out without the involvement of the platforms.

TRIA acts as a connected intelligence layer. It automates queries and alerts across data sources without modifying any existing system and without purchasing data from third parties. It only works with anonymous data validated by the platforms themselves, within a governed environment that ensures the security, immutability and anonymity of the information, with the future aim of communicating actions and campaigns to users of these platforms.

A three-phase project

The implementation of TRIA has followed three phases. The first was a feasibility study that analysed more than 45 international platforms covering wearables, outdoor routes, training, accommodation and tourism data. The conclusion was clear: ready-to-connect open data is scarce, and access to aggregated and anonymous data requires official agreements with platforms, supported by public administration.

The second phase involved contacting platforms specialising in routes and/or accommodation and selecting those that offer an official, secure and GDPR-compliant channel to transfer data to the new TRIA platform. The third phase has been the development of the platform, which has already been tested by the project partners.

Reference platforms

TRIA works with international platforms. The first is Ride with GPS (an app for exploring and planning cycling routes), while the integration of Outdooractive (a route platform for outdoor sports enthusiasts covering GPS, hiking, cycling, MTB, mountaineering and skiing), Thryve (a platform for interpreting health data collected through wearables), Key Data (a real-time market intelligence and analytics platform specialising in tourist accommodation and vacation rentals) and Strava Metro (a Strava tool —the application designed to record and share routes— that collects, anonymises and aggregates user activity data, such as cycling or walking journeys, to share it with urban planners, governments and mobility planners) is currently in progress.

These sources therefore provide anonymous patterns of route and space usage, as well as content about routes and points of interest.

For platforms that provide data, TRIA represents an opportunity to gain visibility in the territory and participate in public promotional activities.