UN Tourism – ETC DataLab ”Turning Data into Action – How NTOs Monitor and Respond to Crises”

Ana Jemec Špik is a tourism data and business analytics professional at the Slovenian Tourist Board. She leads work related to Slovenia’s National Intelligence System for Tourism (NiST), supporting destinations, tourism businesses and public stakeholders with data-driven insights for better decision-making. Her work focuses on tourism intelligence, sustainable destination management, and the applied use of data in tourism development.

Dagbjartur Brynjarsson is a Tourism Safety Expert at the Icelandic Tourist Board, where he leads strategic initiatives related to tourist safety, crisis preparedness, visitor management, and risk communication. His work focuses on strengthening the resilience of Iceland’s tourism sector
through enhanced safety frameworks, stakeholder coordination, and emergency preparedness.

With more than 35 years of experience in Search and Rescue and over 25 years in emergency and disaster management, Dagbjartur has worked extensively with ICE-SAR, international humanitarian organizations, and the United Nations. Throughout his career, he has been involved in disaster response operations, emergency coordination, humanitarian logistics, crisis communication, and the development of preparedness and response systems in complex and rapidly evolving environments.

In his current role, Dagbjartur works closely with Iceland’s Department of Civil Protection and Emergency Management, law enforcement, tourism stakeholders, and destination management organizations to integrate tourism considerations into national emergency management
structures. During recent volcanic eruptions in Iceland, he has played a central role in tourism related crisis coordination, visitor information management, and stakeholder communication, helping ensure that visitors receive timely, accurate, and actionable information before and
during emergencies.

A key focus of his work is the intersection of disaster management and tourism, particularly how destinations can maintain visitor safety while preserving confidence and trust during crises. His expertise includes visitor management in high-risk environments, emergency communication
strategies, situational awareness, risk assessment, and the use of technology to support informed decision-making and public safety.

Dagbjartur is also an experienced instructor and lecturer, having delivered training and presentations to volunteers, emergency management professionals, public authorities, and university students. He has lectured at Reykjaví k University, the University of Bifrost, and
Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

His presentation draws on Iceland’s recent experience managing tourism during volcanic eruptions and highlights how close collaboration between tourism authorities, civil protection agencies, and industry stakeholders can strengthen crisis response, visitor safety, and
destination resilience.

Journalism and Corporate Communications Specialist with more than 20 years of experience in media relations, public affairs, and strategic communications. Her expertise spans corporate reputation, strategic PR management, and journalism across hospitality, travel & tourism, international affairs, as well as Real Estate investment and technology.

She currently serves as Communications Manager at The Data Appeal Company / Almaviva, a global travel intelligence and tourism advisory partner. Throughout her career as a corporate communications consultant, she has led PR and communications strategies for major corporate brands, tourism destinations, SMEs, industry associations, and multinational companies.

She is also specialized in Crisis Communications and Corporate Reputation Management, and has delivered training programs on media relations, media training, and reputation management. Before moving into corporate communications, she spent nearly a decade as a full-time journalist. Her experience includes roles as a reporter for Agencia EFE TV Services, Editor-in-Chief of the international news desk at Agencia EFE-EPA, one of the world’s leading newswire services, and as a fixer and special correspondent for international media outlets including Sky News and TRT World.

Senior Programme Officer at the Tourism Market Intelligence and Competitiveness Department, UN Tourism.

Michel Julian’s work covers the analysis of current and future tourism trends, reflected in the preparation of the World Tourism Barometer and other key UN Tourism intelligence reports. His field of work also includes the study of tourism products and segments, outbound markets, marketing techniques and competitiveness factors of destinations. He coordinates research projects with national tourism organisations, UN agencies, international bodies and the private sector. He has led initiatives promoting knowledge exchange on data and market intelligence such as the DataLab initiative with the European Travel Commission. Mr Julian (Dominican Republic) studied economics and holds Masters degrees in International and Tourism Economics from Toulouse School of Economics – Sciences Po (Toulouse, France), as well as an Advanced Studies Diploma in International Economics, Universidad Complutense de Madrid.

Policy Analyst at Turismo de Portugal.

PhD candidate at the University of Lisbon. Degree in Tourism and Master’s in Management of Tourist Organizations. More than 15 years of experience in the tourism sector in the areas of market intelligence, tourism policy and tourism operations. Policy analyst at Turismo de Portugal and representative of Portugal on the OECD Tourism committee. Guest professor at the European University and NOVA SBE in Lisbon.

Jennifer Iduh is currently Head of Research and Insights at the European Travel Commission (ETC), a non-profit organisation responsible for the promotion of Europe as a tourist destination in third markets.

In that capacity, Jennifer is responsible for research and reporting into different source markets and the identification of key trends and opportunities for European tourism. Jennifer is also in charge of research activities linked to the European Commission (EC) and other research partners such as the World Tourism Organisation (UN Tourism), the World Travel and Tourism Council and the European Tourism Association (ETOA), amongst others.

Jennifer’s knowledge in market research is backed up by four years of working experience at the World Tourism Organization (UN Tourism), where she provided support to the Tourism Market Trends department and the Travel department.