Second Edition
In 2026, the Skål Europe Tourism Technology Awards return for their second edition.
Technology is changing tourism at extraordinary speed. It influences how businesses operate, how destinations are managed, how professionals work, how travellers plan and experience their journeys, and how organisations communicate with customers and with each other.
But technology alone does not create value.
The Skål Europe Tourism Technology Awards recognise members who are using technology to address real needs, solve problems, create opportunities and improve tourism.
We are interested not simply in what the technology is, but in what it makes possible.
Projects can be large or small, technically sophisticated or remarkably simple. They may use emerging technologies or apply established technologies in new and effective ways.
What matters is the problem being addressed, how the solution works in practice, what value it creates and what others can learn from the experience.
Technology Serving Tourism
Tourism technology covers an exceptionally broad field.
It may improve the traveller experience, make tourism services more accessible, support employees, simplify operations, improve communication, strengthen decision-making, help destinations manage resources, connect businesses and customers, improve sustainability or create entirely new services and experiences.
Projects may involve, among many other possibilities, digital platforms, software, data applications, automation, artificial intelligence, virtual or augmented experiences, accessibility technologies, operational systems, communication tools or new applications of existing technologies.
This list is deliberately not exhaustive.
The Awards are not intended to define what tourism technology should look like.
If technology is being used to address a meaningful need or opportunity within tourism, we want to understand what you are doing.
Technology Does Not Need to Be New
Innovation is welcome, but novelty is not a requirement.
A project using the latest artificial intelligence technology is not automatically more valuable than one using an established digital tool to solve a longstanding operational problem.
Likewise, technological complexity is not a measure of quality.
Sometimes the most effective solution is the simplest one.
The Skål Europe Tourism Technology Awards therefore focus on the application and value of technology, rather than on technology for its own sake.
The central question is:
What does this technology allow you to do better?
What We Are Looking For
Projects will be considered in relation to their purpose, context, scale and available resources.
A technology developed by a major international company and a practical digital solution introduced by a small independent tourism business cannot reasonably be compared simply by investment, technical complexity or number of users.
Before evaluating a project, the Skål Europe Board will consider whether it represents a genuine application of technology relevant to tourism and appropriate to the purpose of the Awards.
Eligible projects will then be evaluated according to four principal criteria.
1. Relevance and Purpose
What real need or opportunity does the project address?
We want to understand the problem that led to the technological solution.
Who is it intended to help?
What was difficult, inefficient, inaccessible, unavailable or simply capable of being done better?
Technology should have a purpose.
A strong project begins not with the question “What technology can we use?”, but with an understanding of what needs to be achieved.
2. Application
How has the technology been translated into practical use?
We are interested in working applications and practical experience.
Tell us how the solution was developed or introduced, how it is being used, who uses it and how it interacts with the real tourism environment for which it was intended.
Projects still under development may be considered where sufficient implementation has taken place to provide meaningful practical experience.
A concept can be interesting, but the Tourism Technology Awards primarily seek to discover technology in action.
3. Value and Impact
What difference does the technology make?
Value can take many forms.
A technological solution might save time, reduce costs, improve service, increase accessibility, support employees, provide better information, improve safety, reduce environmental impact, strengthen communication, improve decision-making, generate new business opportunities or create a better experience for travellers.
Impact should be considered in relation to the objectives and scale of the project.
Evidence should be proportionate to the claims being made. Large projects may have extensive data and formal performance measurements. Smaller projects may demonstrate value through operational results, user experience, documented improvements or other appropriate evidence.
We are interested in real value, not impressive technology terminology.
4. Learning Value
What can others learn from the experience?
Technology develops rapidly, but practical experience remains valuable.
What worked?
What proved more difficult than expected?
What changed during implementation?
What would you do differently?
Could an aspect of the approach be adapted by another tourism professional or organisation?
The project itself does not need to be replicable. The experience behind it may still contain lessons that are useful elsewhere.
We therefore encourage participants to share not only the technology and its results, but also what they learned by putting it into practice.
Responsible Technology
Technology creates opportunities, but its use also carries responsibilities.
Depending on the nature of the project, these may include privacy and data protection, cybersecurity, accessibility, transparency, reliability, environmental impact, appropriate human oversight and the effects of technology on employees, customers and communities.
Not every consideration applies equally to every project.
A simple operational application should not be expected to address the same issues as an artificial intelligence system processing customer information.
The principle is proportionality: technology should be used responsibly in relation to what it does, whom it affects and the risks it creates.
Responsible use forms part of the Board’s overall consideration of the quality and credibility of a project.
Artificial Intelligence and Emerging Technologies
Artificial intelligence is creating important new possibilities throughout tourism, and projects involving AI are particularly welcome.
But the Tourism Technology Awards are not AI Awards.
AI receives no automatic advantage simply because it is new or currently attracting attention.
The same principle applies to every emerging technology.
We are interested in whether the technology addresses a meaningful need, has been applied intelligently and responsibly, and creates demonstrable value.
A simple solution that works can be more significant than a sophisticated technology looking for a problem to solve.
Projects of Every Scale
Skål members work throughout an industry that ranges from major international organisations to individual professionals and small family businesses.
Technology is relevant at every level.
A project does not need a large development team, substantial investment or thousands of users to deserve attention.
The Board will consider achievements in relation to their context, objectives, scale and resources.
We particularly encourage members who have developed or introduced practical solutions within smaller organisations to share their experience.
Sometimes a small improvement solves a problem experienced by thousands of other tourism professionals.
That is precisely the kind of idea worth discovering.
Evaluation and Recognition
Submissions will be evaluated by the Skål Europe Board, acting as the Jury of the Skål Europe Awards 2026.
Projects will be considered according to four principal criteria:
Relevance and Purpose · Application · Value and Impact · Learning Value
Technological novelty, complexity, investment and organisational size do not in themselves determine the quality of a submission.
The Board will consider each project in its particular context and may grant additional recognition where a particularly significant characteristic or achievement emerges from the submissions received.
The Tourism Technology Awards will be presented during the Skål Europe Annual General Assembly in November 2026. The date and location will be announced separately.
Sharing What We Learn
Receiving a Tourism Technology Award is an important recognition, but it is not the only purpose of participating.
Technology projects contain experience that can be useful to others, including the problems they addressed, the choices made during development, the obstacles encountered and the lessons learned through implementation.
Skål Europe will seek opportunities to present participating initiatives through articles, interviews and other editorial content on skaleurope.org.
Where an experience can contribute to wider professional learning, participants may also be invited to share their work through the Skål Europe Academy.
Our objective is not only to show technology.
It is to help tourism professionals understand what technology can enable them to do.
How to Participate
The Tourism Technology Awards are open to projects and initiatives brought forward by Skål members and endorsed by a Skål Club.
Clubs may also submit projects developed by prospective members, in accordance with the general participation guidelines of the Skål Europe Awards 2026.
Full information concerning eligibility, language, submission materials, photographs and media, intellectual property and publication conditions is available in:
Skål Europe Awards 2026 – How to Participate
The deadline for submissions is:
31 October 2026
Bring Us the Problem You Solved
You do not need to have invented a new technology.
You do not need a laboratory, a large development team or a major technology budget.
You need an experience worth sharing.
If you have used technology to solve a problem, improve an experience, create an opportunity or simply make something work better in tourism, we would like to know what you did and what you learned.
Show us what technology made possible.
Share the experience.
Help good ideas travel.
