Open Call for SMEs Support by TRACE

The TRACE Support Program will directly involve SMEs that will be projected to become “champions” of sustainability and inspire other micro and small-sized enterprises in their local contexts.

The TRACE Support Program consists of targeted training and specialized consultancy activities to support, and advise European tourism and culture SMEs to enhance and monitor the sustainability performance of SMEs in the tourism sector integrating the circular economy, boost their awareness and capacity of integrating sustainable innovations in their business strategy, develop a strategic and investment plan for circular economy, and apply for environmental certification (eg EU Ecolabel, EMAS or others).

TRACE is a project co-funded by the European Commission through Grant Agreement N. 101085893 under the Single Market Program (SMP SMP/SME Pillar), which aims to provide sustainability services such as strategies, training activities and tools for tourism SMEs willing to innovate their business models and enhance their performance from a sustainability and circularity perspective.

Focus Areas

• Activities will focus on sustainability aspects such as analysis of Greenhouse Gases (GHG) emissions, development of sustainability plans, support for application to EU eco-label and other certification processes, and monitoring of a set of key indicators for the level of sustainability and circularity. Particular attention will be given to the enhancement of skills and capacities of the involved SMEs internal staff, through training and capacity building activities, and a series of direct support services dedicated to certification processes, sustainable finance and innovation management. Thus, the whole TRACE Support Program aims at supporting tourism SMEs in taking their first steps towards the sustainability journey, starting a process which has a large potential to bring benefits not only to the single enterprise but to the entire territory/society.

Funding Information

• The selected 12 SMEs will receive a Grant up to €7,200 for consultancy, training, travels and certification.
• The TRACE Grant will be used to access further training and specialized consultancy, travel to networking and business events and to apply for sustainability/environmental certification. The enterprises will be engaged from March to May 2025 in a coaching process and will be included in an international network of virtuous enterprises for sustainable circular and cultural tourism to enhance particularly lesser-known and remote destinations and establish local cooperation networks.

Eligibility Criteria

• To be eligible, the applicants must:
  • be a Small and Medium-sized Enterprise (SME):
    • An SME will be considered as such if complying with the European Commission Recommendation 2003/361/EC and the SME qualification guide;
    • SMEs that do not have yet annual turnover or balance sheets are also considered eligible given that they fulfil the mentioned criteria of the SME definition;
    • In case an SME enters the TRACE Support Programme, it will remain eligible even if, at a certain point during the programme execution, it does not fulfil criteria of the SME definition;
  • be SMEs working in tourism sector, ideally demonstrating or aiming for innovation in tourism, preferably within the following categories, in line with these Eurostat classes:
    • I5510 — Hotels and similar accommodation
    • I5520 — Holiday and other short-stay accommodation
    • I5530 — Camping grounds, recreational vehicle parks and trailer parks
    • I5610 — Restaurants and mobile food service activities
    • I5630 — Beverage serving activities
    • N7710 — Renting and leasing of motor vehicles
    • N7721 — Renting and leasing of recreational and sports goods
    • SMEs in other sectors (e.g. R – arts, entertainment and recreation) can take part in the selection process, while they need to demonstrate that their activities are linked to the tourism sector
  • be a legal entity established in one of the following countries:
    • Belgium
    • Cyprus
    • Italy
    • Romania
    • Spain

For more information, visit EC.