It develops its own platform that facilitates the consultation of data to identify trends in the sector, prevent risks and implement strategies that guarantee sustainable development
A year ago, in May 2016, two expert promoters with the operation of the tourism sector decided to create Lurmetrika Labs, a ‘start up’ focused on the development of applications for measuring the performance of the tourist accommodation industry based on new digital sources of information and monitoring technologies. In the past year, the promoters of the company, Aurkene Alzua Sorzabal and Zaloa Lavilla Gallarzagoitia, have achieved a varied portfolio of clients to whom they provide relevant sector analytical information for the management of their accommodation offer.
In order to better meet the needs of customers, these entrepreneurs, with the collaboration of professionals specialized in the field of artificial intelligence and computing, are developing their own platform that facilitates data consultation and obtaining graphics. This platform offers various indicators to measure and monitor the economic and sociocultural impact of tourism in cities and territories that are essential for the client to be able to draw conclusions quickly, identify new trends and implement appropriate strategies and policies that guarantee sustainable development of the sector.
The information prepared by Lurmetrika for the tourism sector refers mainly to the issues of destination performance, collaborative accommodation, reputation and source markets. It works with different indicators, such as prices, variation of the supply and seasonality of destinations, types of accommodation in demand, comparison of destinations, occupancy rate, people employed and sustainability index. “The stages of our work – Zaloa says – are four: collecting information daily from the Internet, structuring the database, making predictive models by algorithms and, finally, the fourth stage is the consumption of information and its visualization”.
Advantages
Compared to surveys and sampling, which are statistical techniques traditionally used to determine the performance of the tourist accommodation industry, the methodology used by Lurmetrika Labs offers a series of advantages based mainly on the agility of the collection of information, the reduction of acquisition costs and the availability of current and real data that allow adopting the appropriate measures at all times.
Lurmetrika’s objective is to offer a low-cost intelligence tool to destination management entities and local tourism management entities that do not have sufficient resources to effectively monitor the performance of accommodation companies in their territory.
“We intend to help destination management organizations – Zaloa points out – putting in their hands observatories for their territory that provide practical information through convenient, easy-to-consult formats. There are also other links within the tourism sector, such as that of travel agencies, that could benefit from our developments, for example, knowing how are going to evolve in the market the prices, the occupation, the reputation, the sustainability; in order to better prepare their offers”.
Looking for financing for its technological developments is one of the greatest challenges that, as a recently created company, Lurmetrika Labs faces. Also the recruitment of qualified personnel in the fields of web technology development and big data analysis is another key aspect that will determine the success of its business plan. In the frame of investment and management support to innovative projects, the managers of Lurmetrika highlight the help received from Beaz, Seed Capital Bizkaia, Spri I and Ekintzaile.
