The Bulgarian AI startup Umni won first place in the category "Innovation and Digitalization for Island Destinations" at United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) Island Destinations Competition that took place on March 16. Elitza Stoilova, the co-founder of Umni and a FI Sofia alumni, presented a project for Island AI Concierge. Her five-minute-long pitch about a smart chatbot that knows everything about a destination, earned her the unanimous approval of the whole jury.
"I'm so glad to present our pilot project to a number of key local agencies and global organizations such as UNWTO, MasterCard, Amadeus, TUI Foundation, Ministries of Tourism of Cyprus, Malta, Spain, Croatia, Spain, and others," Elitza Stoilova shared.
The Island Destinations Competition was part of the two-day conference on business digitalization in the Canary Islands, DigiON Canarias.
About Umni
Umni is a platform that allows the creation of chatbots with conversational artificial intelligence for marketing, sales, customer service, and other business needs. Umni helps organizations save thousands of staff hours by automating client communication and reducing the routine.
Umni's chatbots are used by a variety of businesses - from libraries, universities, manufacturers, service providers, hotels, and online stores, to NGOs, and even funeral agencies and art galleries. Recently, Umni implemented ChatGPT to speed up and simplify the process of designing an AI chatbot.
About Umni AI Concierge
Umni's Island AI Concierge (AI chatbot) is an innovative destination-level communication tool that creates jobs being supported by a local team on the Umni platform with no technical expertise. It connects local businesses, locals, culture, traditions, and digital infrastructure with tourists. The destination AI Concierge can also be a financially self-sustaining project with sales, sponsorship, and advertising opportunities inside the chatbot itself.
About UNWTO's Global Startup Competition
UNWTO's Global Startup Competition aims to attract the most innovative business models and smart solutions that address the complex challenges and specific needs the tourism sector of island destinations faces in the aftermath of the pandemic. Ten companies from Bulgaria, Greece, Italy, Spain, India, the UK, Argentina, and the Dominican Republic reached the final. The winners in the two categories received a price award, a UNWTO Tourism Online Academy scholarship, and other perks and benefits.
Find more information about the competition here:
https://www.unwto.org/unwto-tourism-tech-adventures-canarias-2023
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