fuTOURiSME: Supporting Tourism SMEs in Europe’s Digital and Sustainable Transition

The fuTOURiSME project is supporting small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the experiential tourism sector to strengthen their resilience, competitiveness and capacity for innovation through the twin transition towards digitalisation and sustainability.

Running for 36 months, from September 2023 to September 2026, the EU-funded initiative brings together partners from Cyprus, France, Germany, Greece, Italy and Spain, with a focus on helping tourism businesses adopt digital and green solutions, develop new business models and strengthen the skills needed to respond to a rapidly changing tourism landscape.

Building a more resilient tourism sector

Tourism plays a significant role in the European economy, with tourism businesses overwhelmingly represented by SMEs. However, many smaller enterprises continue to face challenges related to digital maturity, sustainability skills, access to funding and the capacity to invest in innovation. At the same time, consumer demand for more sustainable tourism experiences continues to grow.

fuTOURiSME addresses these challenges through a combination of expert training and coaching, sustainability assessments, innovation funding, digital resources and peer learning. Its approach is designed to help tourism SMEs move towards more sustainable and digitally enabled business models while supporting their post-COVID recovery and long-term resilience.

From training and assessment to direct funding

The project has already delivered measurable results across the participating countries. More than 263 professionals have been trained, while 63 SMEs have completed sustainability assessments and 16 online coaching sessions have been delivered.

The project has also engaged 185 tourism stakeholders and evaluated 381 SME applications, with 60 SMEs receiving funding totalling €1.8 million to support innovation.

Alongside financial support, fuTOURiSME has developed practical resources to help businesses continue their digital and sustainable transformation. These include four multilingual toolkits, a digital platform featuring 125 innovation resources and three multilingual e-learning courses. More than 120 participants have also taken part in the project’s peer-learning workshop.

Practical support for the future of European tourism

By combining knowledge, skills development, business support and financial opportunities, fuTOURiSME is contributing to a more innovative, sustainable and resilient tourism ecosystem in Europe.

The project’s activities are aligned with the European tourism pathway and aim to help SMEs translate the twin transition into practical actions that can strengthen their businesses and improve their capacity to respond to future challenges.

The project is also working towards supporting 50 SMEs in achieving sustainability certification, further strengthening the sector’s capacity to integrate sustainability into everyday business practices.

Explore fuTOURiSME Project: www.futourisme.eu