Antonio López de Ávila has been the Director of Innovation, Education, and Investments at UNWTO (United Nations World Tourism Organization) (ad interim) since June 2024. Previously, he served as the Coordinator of the Tourism for Rural Development Program at UNWTO from the regional office in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, where he was responsible for initiatives such as Best Tourism Village, the “TourismConnectRural” platform, and STAR, a self-diagnosis tool to assist rural areas in their tourism development.

Before joining the organization, Antonio was the President of Tourism Data Driven Solutions from 2017 to 2019 and the President-CEO of the State Society for the Management of Innovation and Tourism Technologies (SEGITTUR), under the Ministry of Industry, Energy, and Tourism of Spain, from 2012 to 2017.

His most significant initiative, due to its global importance, was the launch of the “Smart Tourist Destinations” project in Spain in 2012, making it the first destination worldwide to implement it effectively. This initiative received dual recognition from the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO Ulysses Award 2018 for Innovation in Research and Technology) and the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC Global Champion Award in 2019).

Under his leadership, there was a massive digitalization of tourism resources in Spain, and the first three projects to create Tourism Intelligence Systems in the world were launched. These were the first platforms for the visualization and analysis of data (both structured and unstructured) linked to tourist territories.

Additionally, he created the EMPRENDETUR financing line, which supported more than 400 entrepreneurs and innovative companies with loans exceeding €80 million between 2012 and 2016.

He was the President of the Canary Islands Tourism Innovation Cluster, Turisfera, from 2019 to 2022.

As a teacher and researcher, he has been associated with IE University from 1998 to 2019 as a Professor of Innovation, also holding executive positions at various times, including Director of Corporate Relations and Chairman of the IE Travel & Tourism Innovation Center.