- Funded with €4 million by the COSME program and with a duration of 36 months, Fu-Tourism seeks to establish a solid ecosystem that will provide a lasting impact on the tourism sector, promoting its resilience to future challenges and aligning with the objectives of the EU’s European Green Deal.
- An acceleration program will identify and support a total of 102 tourism SMEs from the six European countries that are part of the project: Spain, Greece, Croatia, Belgium, Austria, and Poland.
Supporting European tourism SMEs in their transition towards a green, digital and inclusive economy, while focusing on the application of the principles of the regenerative economy. This is the main objective of the European project “FU-TOURISM 5.0 – Future-Ready Business Support Ecosystem for Tourism SME Transition to Green and Digital Resilience” which has just started. Funded with 4 million euros by the COSME program and a duration of 36 months (3 years), the project involves eight partners from seven European countries.
Fu-TOURISM 5.0 will develop a support ecosystem for tourism SMEs, promoting greater cooperation in innovation between these companies and incubators and accelerators in the sector. To this end, it will launch an acceleration program that will identify and support a total of 102 SMEs.
During the acceleration program, 10 SMEs from each country will be selected in a transparent and open manner to receive a 5-month support and a grant of 20,000 euros. In addition, the Scaling Up program will select 42 SME consortia (7 per-country) to receive a grant of 30,000 euros and related business support.
Tourism SME Transition Living Labs
Coordinated by Eupolis (Croatia), the project has seven other partners: DUBROVNIK CITY (Croatia), Consell Insular de Menorca (Spain), Finnova (Belgium), Envolve (Greece), SYNYO (Austria), Vestbee (Poland) and Open Impact (Italy).
One of the main pillars of the FU-TOURISM 5.0 project is the development of a platform and a network of 4-Helix Collaborative Clusters, known as Living Labs for the Transition of Tourism SMEs.
These clusters will enable SMEs to be placed at the center of the tourism ecosystem, adopting a multi-stakeholder approach that takes into account the broader needs of the destination, visitors and local citizens.
In the context of the European Union, the COSME Program has proven to be a driver of development for businesses and SMEs in Europe. FU-TOURISM 5.0 is part of the list of projects funded by COSME between 2021 and 2027, standing out as a joint effort to boost economic growth, job creation and foster business competitiveness on the continent.
Unique opportunity to transform the tourism sector
FU-TOURISM 5.0 not only represents an opportunity for European tourism SMEs, but also for the unique UNESCO tourist destinations; the City of DUBROVNIK, a UNESCO Heritage City (listed in 1979), and the Island of MENORCA, Biosphere Reserve (listed in 1993); which will be part of the program’s pilot projects.
These destinations will test the overall Destination Management Organizations (DMO) strategy and support for tourism SMEs, supported by EUPOLIS, which will integrate the Tourism Impact Model (TIM) and the Digital Readiness Index (DRI) to measure and report on the sustainable and digital transition of SMEs and destinations.
The FU-TOURISM 5.0 project, aligned with the objectives of the European Green Pact and the EU Digital Single Market, presents a unique opportunity to transform the tourism sector towards a greener, more resilient and digitized model.