Up to 280,000 Euros available to support Micro- and Nano SMEs in Tourism Sector

This project aims to alleviate “digital and green fear” by offering straightforward, easy-to-understand knowledge enhancement tailored to the current situation of SMEs. It presents practical solutions for digital and green internal management, marketing, and product development that align with the realistic human and financial capacity of micro-SMEs.

The project establishes a unified and coherent access point for fundamental training, tools, and supplementary resources for micro-SMEs. Additionally, it defines a methodology and tools for SME business support structures that can be replicated, adapted to specific local needs, and translated into various languages to address the challenge of staying up-to-date with emerging trends, including digital and green innovations. Support will be provided through pre-approved external Assistance Service Providers (ASP) selected through an open call. The SME may select another ASP for the delivery of support, but the consortium needs to approve and to train them in order to ensure the quality of the services offered.

Objectives of the Call

A first call for SMEs’ proposals was published in July 2023 and closed on 10 September 2023, with a result of 134 SMEs selected for funding. Through this second call for proposals, the EU RURAL TOURISM project will support at least 56 more rural tourism SMEs, by improving their digital, green and social maturity, skills, and capacities. The participants will be working closely with experts to bridge their digital, eco-sustainability and soft/social skills gaps.

Action Areas

SMEs will have the opportunity to choose and improve at least 4 out of the following 12 action areas:

• Digital
  • Digitalization of processes in SMEs
  • Digital marketing and promotion
  • Marketing intelligence and data analysis, Marketing strategy based on data
• Green and Sustainable
  • Sustainable management practices for SMEs
  • CO2 management and reduction to address climate change
  • Sustainable mobility
  • Gastronomy and food based on local supply chains
• Soft/Social
  • Social-cultural skills (interaction with visitors from different cultural backgrounds)
  • Experience generation for visitors (development of corresponding products)
  • Inclusive tourism for visitors with special needs
  • Integration with the local community
  • Interpretation techniques for cultural, historical, natural resources

Benefits for the Beneficiaries

The direct support package to SMEs consists of:

• Phase 1
  • Initial and final capacity building event for all supported SMEs in a region
  • Self-assessment of the current situation in order to address needs for improvement
  • On-site audit, revision of the product idea and improvement plan
• Phase 2
  • Mentoring, technical advice and support during the implementation process.
  • Budget for additional external services that may be needed for implementation
  • Final evaluation and follow-up visit by advisor
  • Final meeting and discussion of results of the supported actions amongst all assisted SMEs

Funding Information

• This second call has total funding of 280,000 Euros, and 56 selected SMEs will receive financial support in the form of a service pack valued at 5,000 Euros.
• The Financial Support program will commence in January 2024 and last for 5 months.

Geographical Eligibility

Participation is limited to SMEs established in the following EU member states or specific regions within a Country, as well as in the following third countries participating in the COSME programme or their regions, under the condition that at least one external Assistance Service Provider (ASP) per category of service (digital, green and sustainable management, soft/social skills) has responded to the ASP Call and has been approved by the Consortium. The maximum number of SMEs that can be selected per country to receive FSTP is expressed in brackets after each Country:

• Belgium – limited to Wallonia region (max 4 SMEs)
• Bosnia-Herzegovina (max 7 SMEs)
• Estonia (max 9 SMEs)
• Georgia (max 10 SMEs)
• Greece (max 12 SMEs)
• Ireland (max 5 SMEs)
• Italy (max 7 SMEs)
• The Netherlands (max 10 SMEs)
• North Macedonia (max 3 SMEs)
• Romania – limited to the Harghita region (max 6 SMEs)
• Slovenia (max 3 SMEs)
• Spain – limited to Aragón, Cataluña, La Rioja, Navarra regions (max 9 SMEs)

Eligibility of Applicants

• This project addresses specifically the needs of micro and nano SMEs and how to cover them under the Cluster concept. Such SMEs respond to the following profile:
  • Micro businesses run by individuals or by a family, with a history of operation covering at least 1 year at the moment of submission deadline (i.e. already open and operative at the 16th of January 2023) and with maximum 10 employees.
  • Located in the countryside, or in villages or towns in rural areas.
  • Accommodation providers (agritourism, farm tourism, small hotel, guest house, holiday cottage, etc). Priority will be given to providers offering extra services such as food service (breakfast, half/full board), nature or farm activities, classes (culinary, crafts), guided tours, etc.
• This Call is open to SMEs that comply with the following NACE classifications:
  • Accommodation (I55)
  • Travel agency, tour operator reservation service and related activities (N79)
  • Other NACE codes or in general other activities (where NACE code does not exist) referred to the rural tourism sector
• The official registration certificate provided by responsible tourism or enterprise authorities for one of the above is sufficient even if it does not contain the NACE classification code.

For more information, visit EuroCluster Rural Tourism.