Tourism body launches tender for immersive digital visitor experience
A tourism body seeks immersive tech to deliver virtual offices and AR heritage routes, signalling growing demand for digital visitor experiences.
A tourism body seeks immersive tech to deliver virtual offices and AR heritage routes, signalling growing demand for digital visitor experiences.
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Municipal tourism company of Santander has launched a contract to design and implement a new digital tourist experience built around immersive technologies. Published on 16th February 2026, the Digital Tourist Experience Development notice covers a virtual tourism office, augmented reality routes through historic areas and mixed reality experiences, signalling a shift towards more interactive, story-driven visits.
According to the notice, the contractor will be asked to design and implement "a digital tourist experience in Santander using immersive technologies". The scope is focused but ambitious: a virtual tourism office, augmented reality historical routes and a set of mixed reality experiences, all conceived as a coherent offer.
Taken together, these elements could enrich the way visitors discover Santander, adding digital layers of storytelling to existing routes and attractions. The work will also test how far immersive tools can move from eye-catching pilot projects into the fabric of the city's day-to-day visitor offer.
The Santander tender lands against a backdrop of intense activity among tourism authorities seeking to upgrade their digital capabilities. In August 2025, the Presidencia de la Diputación Provincial de Jaén issued a Digital Transformation for Tourism contract, seeking innovative technologies and sensor systems to capture data and support advanced analytics for sustainable tourism management. In October 2025, the Junta de Gobierno del Ayuntamiento Las Rozas launched its Intelligent Destinations Platform Development project, commissioning a tourism management system linked to the national Intelligent Destinations Platform.
City and regional destination platforms are also taking shape elsewhere. In October 2025, the Junta de Gobierno del Ajuntament de València published a Development and Support of PID-Valencia notice for a technological platform that fuses real-time data from multiple sources to support tourism management and municipal services. In September 2025, the Consejería de Presidencia, Reto Demográfico, Igualdad y Turismo in the Principality of Asturias signalled plans for a Technological Solution for Tourism Platform, covering analysis, design, development and implementation of a comprehensive destination platform for smart and sustainable tourism.
By December 2025, the Instituto de Turismo de la Región de Murcia had published its Integration of Tourism and Smart City Platforms notice, seeking support and project management services to connect tourism and Smart City platforms with the central Intelligent Destination Platform. That same month, the City Council of Málaga opened procurement for Intelligent Destination Platform Development, aiming to develop, implement and commission a platform to promote and enhance tourism in the municipality. In January 2026, the Junta de Gobierno del Ayuntamiento de Burgos followed with a Smart Tourism Platform Development contract covering project management, technological development, hardware supply, communication strategies and independent audits.
In parallel, many destinations are investing directly in immersive visitor content. In December 2025, the Alcaldía del Ayuntamiento de Salamanca sought suppliers for Virtual Experiences for Salamanca Tourism, covering design and development of digital content to enhance visits to key heritage sites and new attractions. That same month, the Consejo Ejecutivo del Consell Insular de Menorca issued an Augmented Reality System for Tourism tender to create and implement an augmented reality system showcasing tourist and heritage resources in the Mahón port area as part of a sustainability initiative funded by European sources.
Other contracts point to a growing interest in combining immersive tools with artificial intelligence and on-street infrastructure. In October 2025, the Presidencia de la Diputación Provincial de Huelva published a prior information notice for Digital Content Generation Services, combining audiovisual and virtual reality experiences with the supply of devices for their reproduction across multiple municipalities. Also in October 2025, Tracasa Instrumental, S.L. announced its Virtual Tourist Assistant Development project in Navarra, centred on an AI-based assistant for the tourism sector. In November 2025, the Junta de Gobierno del Ayuntamiento de Nerja set out a contract for Information Kiosks and AI Avatar Installation, including LED information kiosks, data analytics reports and a customisable AI-powered avatar. Beyond Spain, the Administration of Vilnius city has, in February 2026, gone to market for Digital Tourism Development Services to create new digital tourism products and tools.
In cultural heritage, immersive technology is becoming part of the visitor toolkit. In November 2025, the Région Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur launched an open call for Virtual Immersive Experiences for Underwater Heritage, underlining the need for a cohesive approach to producing interrelated immersive services. A few days later, the ETBT du Château de Versailles sought a provider for Virtual Reality Device and Content, covering both a physical virtual reality device for outdoor use and the creation of 3D and 360° content. In the same month, the Warsaw University of Life Sciences went out with a 360° Virtual Tours Implementation contract to create and implement virtual tours using VR technology, supported by a dedicated content management panel, training sessions and technical support.
Education providers are building expertise in immersive formats that tourism bodies can tap into. In October 2025, the Rectorat Aix Marseille advertised a contract for 3D Virtual Reality Learning Modules across vocational disciplines from clockmaking to electric vehicle maintenance. By December 2025, NEOMA BS Reims was recruiting a service provider for Multimedia Educational Devices Production, pairing immersive and augmented reality teaching tools with a distribution platform and smartphone application. Together, such projects are growing a pool of suppliers able to script, build and maintain complex immersive environments.
Against this backdrop, Santander's tender stands out for combining several immersive strands in a single commission. Rather than focusing only on a data platform or on isolated VR content, the Digital Tourist Experience Development notice brings together a virtual tourism office, augmented reality routes and mixed reality experiences under one design and implementation project. That structure implies a need for coherent narratives and user journeys across different technologies, rather than a set of disconnected digital experiments.
For suppliers, delivering this kind of work typically demands a mix of skills: creative concept development, experience design, software engineering and on-the-ground understanding of the destination. The brief's emphasis on both design and implementation suggests the chosen provider will be responsible not only for producing immersive content and applications but also for making sure they can be experienced reliably by visitors once deployed.
For Santander, the outcome will show how far immersive tools can move from pilot status into the core visitor offer. Other destinations are already testing AI assistants, smart platforms and XR-enhanced routes; the question now is whether these can knit together into everyday tourism infrastructure. As more contracts for smart destinations and immersive content come to market, the Santander project will be one to watch for how it translates technical possibilities into convincing experiences on the ground.
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