On 7 April 2025, we had the pleasure of participating in the Smart Destination Day 2025, organised by the’Milan Polytechnic's Travel Innovation Observatory, focused on how digital technologies and data-driven strategies can help address imbalances in tourism development.

HBenchmark was proud to contribute with the presentation “Bologna's data-driven approach to balanced tourism governance”, in collaboration with Bologna Welcome Foundation - a case study that shows how real-time data analysis can support the strategic management of destinations, favouring a more balanced distribution of tourist flows and promoting sustainable tourism to the benefit of both the local economy and the well-being of the community.

Key points:

• Overtourism is just a buzzword - the real challenge is the unbalanced tourism
• The sustainable tourism requires a holistic and integrated vision
• The data-driven strategies must combine quantitative and qualitative data
• The true value of the’artificial intelligence lies in the use of reliable data
• I destination manager they must also be skilful stakeholder managers
• Democratising data should become a strategic objective