Senior Digital Tourism Specialist– Applications
| Job #: | req35774 |
| Organization: | World Bank |
| Sector: | Digital Development |
| Grade: | GG |
| Term Duration: | 4 years 0 months |
| Recruitment Type: | International Recruitment |
| Location: | Washington, DC,United States |
| Required Language(s): | English |
| Preferred Language(s): | |
| Closing Date: | 3/11/2026 (MM/DD/YYYY) at 11:59pm UTC |
Description
Do you want to build a career that is truly worthwhile? The World Bank Group is a unique global partnership of five institutions driven by a bold vision to create a world free of poverty on a livable planet. As one of the largest sources of funding and knowledge for developing countries, we help solve the world’s greatest development challenges. When you join the World Bank Group, you become part of a dynamic, diverse organization with 189 member countries and more than 120 offices worldwide. We work with public and private sector partners, invest in groundbreaking projects, and use data, research, and technology to bring tangible and transformative changes around the globe. For more information, visit www.worldbank.org.
VPU Context: This position supports the World Bank’s mission by accelerating digital transformation in the tourism sector to increase jobs, competitiveness, and resilience. The role will help client countries and tourism ecosystems adopt scalable digital approaches that improve destination management, visitor services, SME competitiveness, and investment promotion, while strengthening sustainability, cultural and natural heritage protection, and crisis preparedness. The Senior Digital Tourism Specialist will contribute to operations, advisory services, and knowledge work, ensuring tourism programs leverage digital foundations and modern tools (data platforms, interoperable registries, digital identity and payments where relevant, cybersecurity, and analytics/AI) to deliver measurable results.
Unit Context: The Digital Applications Department, overseeing solutions and impact, is led by a Manager who collaborates closely with the Manager for Policy and Regulations and reports to the WBG Vice President, Digital and AI Vertical, who is accountable to IBRD/IDA, IFC, and MIGA Managing Directors. WBG recently published its Digital Strategy which includes four pillars: access, affordability, ecosystem and AI readiness. The strategy identifies the priorities that WBG will engage across the client segment over the next five years. The implementation plan is currently under preparation. The Senior Digital Tourism Specialist will be embedded with the Digital and AI Vice Presidency and will support regional teams within the World Bank Group (e.g., sector and country programs) and collaborate closely other World Bank units. The unit supports client countries to design and implement digital tourism strategies, architectures, and solutions that strengthen sector governance and improve destination and firm-level performance.
Duties and Responsibilities: The work program of the Senior Digital Tourism Specialist will focus on:
1) Strategic Leadership and Innovation:
• Provide technical assistance to client countries and destination stakeholders to design and implement digital tourism strategies, blueprints, and roadmaps to improve competitiveness, job creation, and resilience.
• Advise on policy, institutional, and governance reforms enabling digital tourism transformation, including data-sharing frameworks, visitor data protection, platform governance approaches, standards adoption, and public-private partnership models.
• Develop and disseminate practical guidance such as frameworks, standards, templates, and “how-to” toolkits—for planning, financing, and implementing digital tourism solutions at scale.
• Identify emerging trends and proven practices (e.g., AI-enabled visitor services, frictionless travel experiences, responsible use of digital marketing) and design and support pilots that can be replicated and scaled.
• Foster partnerships with governments, tourism boards, local communities, private sector platforms, SMEs, academia, and development partners to mobilize expertise and innovation opportunities.
2) Tourism Data Platforms, Market Intelligence, and Interoperability:
• Advise on defining, designing, and implementing tourism data platforms that integrate public and private sources (e.g., accommodation and attraction registries, visitor flows, mobility data, payments where available, events, transport, geospatial, and social signals), with clear governance and safeguards.
• Support establishment of data governance (metadata, quality, access controls, data-sharing agreements) and fit-for-purpose interoperability approaches (APIs, registries, standards) to enable consistent reporting and decision-making across tourism institutions.
• Provide guidance on analytics and AI use cases such as demand forecasting, segmentation, dynamic capacity management, and sustainability indicators, ensuring transparency, privacy-by-design, and feasibility in low-capacity settings.
• Translate regulatory requirements (e.g., consumer protection, privacy, taxation/tourism fees, licensing) into digital-ready requirements that improve compliance and reduce administrative burden for firms and government.
1) Strategic Leadership and Innovation:
• Provide technical assistance to client countries and destination stakeholders to design and implement digital tourism strategies, blueprints, and roadmaps to improve competitiveness, job creation, and resilience.
• Advise on policy, institutional, and governance reforms enabling digital tourism transformation, including data-sharing frameworks, visitor data protection, platform governance approaches, standards adoption, and public-private partnership models.
• Develop and disseminate practical guidance such as frameworks, standards, templates, and “how-to” toolkits—for planning, financing, and implementing digital tourism solutions at scale.
• Identify emerging trends and proven practices (e.g., AI-enabled visitor services, frictionless travel experiences, responsible use of digital marketing) and design and support pilots that can be replicated and scaled.
• Foster partnerships with governments, tourism boards, local communities, private sector platforms, SMEs, academia, and development partners to mobilize expertise and innovation opportunities.
2) Tourism Data Platforms, Market Intelligence, and Interoperability:
• Advise on defining, designing, and implementing tourism data platforms that integrate public and private sources (e.g., accommodation and attraction registries, visitor flows, mobility data, payments where available, events, transport, geospatial, and social signals), with clear governance and safeguards.
• Support establishment of data governance (metadata, quality, access controls, data-sharing agreements) and fit-for-purpose interoperability approaches (APIs, registries, standards) to enable consistent reporting and decision-making across tourism institutions.
• Provide guidance on analytics and AI use cases such as demand forecasting, segmentation, dynamic capacity management, and sustainability indicators, ensuring transparency, privacy-by-design, and feasibility in low-capacity settings.
• Translate regulatory requirements (e.g., consumer protection, privacy, taxation/tourism fees, licensing) into digital-ready requirements that improve compliance and reduce administrative burden for firms and government.
3) Digital Destination Management and Visitor Experience:
• Support clients to design and implement digital destination management solutions, including:
- visitor information and service portals (web/mobile)
- digital maps and wayfinding, accessibility features, multilingual support
- ticketing/reservations and visitor flow management where appropriate
- feedback/grievance and service quality monitoring
- crisis communications and incident response mechanisms
• Promote omnichannel service design across web, mobile, on-site kiosks, call centers, and physical points of service to ensure inclusive access for diverse users.
• Support “life-event” and journey-based service models for visitors and operators (e.g., arriving → moving → staying → experiencing → departing) and ensure solutions integrate with broader government digital systems where relevant.
4) Tourism Enterprise Digitization and Ecosystem Enablement:
• Advise on interventions to accelerate digital adoption by tourism SMEs (hotels, guides, tour operators, artisans, restaurants), including digital skills, online presence, e-commerce readiness, CRM adoption, and participation in digital marketplaces.
• Support design of shared digital services for SMEs (e.g., booking integrations, payments enablement, digital ID verification where appropriate, e-invoicing, basic cybersecurity hygiene toolkits), reducing costs and increasing uptake.
• Provide guidance on enabling environment issues such as consumer trust, cyber risk management, online dispute resolution, and quality assurance mechanisms in platform-mediated tourism.
5) Sustainability, Heritage, and Resilience Enablement:
• Support digital approaches to monitor and manage sustainability and heritage protection, including visitor carrying capacity, environmental indicators, protected area management, and community benefits tracking.
• Advise on integrating climate and hazard information into tourism planning and operations (e.g., early warning, business continuity, asset risk screening) and develop practical playbooks for crisis readiness and recovery.
• Where appropriate, support design and testing of destination digital twins or similar decision-support tools, with realistic assessment of data readiness and operational capacity.
• Support clients to design and implement digital destination management solutions, including:
- visitor information and service portals (web/mobile)
- digital maps and wayfinding, accessibility features, multilingual support
- ticketing/reservations and visitor flow management where appropriate
- feedback/grievance and service quality monitoring
- crisis communications and incident response mechanisms
• Promote omnichannel service design across web, mobile, on-site kiosks, call centers, and physical points of service to ensure inclusive access for diverse users.
• Support “life-event” and journey-based service models for visitors and operators (e.g., arriving → moving → staying → experiencing → departing) and ensure solutions integrate with broader government digital systems where relevant.
4) Tourism Enterprise Digitization and Ecosystem Enablement:
• Advise on interventions to accelerate digital adoption by tourism SMEs (hotels, guides, tour operators, artisans, restaurants), including digital skills, online presence, e-commerce readiness, CRM adoption, and participation in digital marketplaces.
• Support design of shared digital services for SMEs (e.g., booking integrations, payments enablement, digital ID verification where appropriate, e-invoicing, basic cybersecurity hygiene toolkits), reducing costs and increasing uptake.
• Provide guidance on enabling environment issues such as consumer trust, cyber risk management, online dispute resolution, and quality assurance mechanisms in platform-mediated tourism.
5) Sustainability, Heritage, and Resilience Enablement:
• Support digital approaches to monitor and manage sustainability and heritage protection, including visitor carrying capacity, environmental indicators, protected area management, and community benefits tracking.
• Advise on integrating climate and hazard information into tourism planning and operations (e.g., early warning, business continuity, asset risk screening) and develop practical playbooks for crisis readiness and recovery.
• Where appropriate, support design and testing of destination digital twins or similar decision-support tools, with realistic assessment of data readiness and operational capacity.
6) Operational Support, Capacity Building, and Knowledge:
• Provide hands-on support to World Bank operations: concept notes, project design inputs, TORs/technical specifications, implementation supervision, and results measurement frameworks.
• Deliver training, workshops, and coaching for client counterparts on digital strategy, data governance, service design, and implementation practices.
• Contribute to knowledge products (case studies, guidance notes, templates) and communities of practice to scale proven approaches across regions.
Selection Criteria
• Master’s degree in tourism management, economics, public policy, information systems, computer science, data analytics, or a related field combining tourism sector experience with digital transformation expertise.
• Minimum 8 years of relevant experience in digital tourism, destination management, tourism analytics, digital transformation in services sectors, or comparable roles supporting public-private ecosystems.
• Proven ability to translate tourism sector priorities (competitiveness, jobs, SME growth, resilience, sustainability) into feasible digital solutions, including target architectures, phased roadmaps, indicative budgets, and results frameworks.
• Strong expertise in at least two of the following:
(i)tourism data platforms, market intelligence, and analytics/AI for tourism
(ii)destination management systems and visitor journey/service design
(iii)SME digitization and digital marketplace enablement
(iv)digital marketing, content ecosystems, and customer engagement systems
(v)interoperability, registries, and digital public infrastructure linkages relevant to tourism
• Practical experience with data governance, privacy-by-design, and secure sharing of public-private data; ability to design “minimum viable” approaches suitable for low-capacity environments.
• Familiarity with cloud platforms (AWS/Azure/GCP concepts), cybersecurity principles, and scalable architectures for public-sector and public-private solutions.
• Excellent stakeholder engagement and facilitation skills, including ability to work with tourism boards, ministries, local governments, SMEs, community actors, and private platforms.
• Ability to work in cross-cultural, multidisciplinary teams and adapt to resource-constrained environments.
WBG Culture Attributes:
1. Sense of urgency: Anticipate and quickly respond to the needs of internal and external stakeholders.
2. Thoughtful risk-taking: Challenge the status quo and push boundaries to achieve greater impact.
3. Empowerment and accountability: Empower yourself and others to act and hold each other accountable for results.
World Bank Group Core Competencies
The World Bank Group offers comprehensive benefits, including a retirement plan; medical, life and disability insurance; and paid leave, including parental leave, as well as reasonable accommodations for individuals with disabilities.
We are proud to be an equal opportunity and inclusive employer with a dedicated and committed workforce, and do not discriminate based on gender, gender identity, religion, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or disability.
Learn more about working at the World Bank and IFC, including our values and inspiring stories.
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