Sustainable and circular tourism can be an important driver to foster the development of European small urban areas, often particularly rich in cultural and natural heritage but less known as tourism destinations. Overcoming the negative effects of mass tourism such as overcrowding, seasonality and over-consumption of natural resources can be challenging, especially due to the lack of skills of tourism operators and destination managers in the field of sustainability and circularity management. TRACE (SMEs TRAnsition for a European Circular Tourism Ecosystem) aims to fill this gap by offering training and specialised support services to tourism SMEs willing to innovate their business models and enhance their performance from a sustainability and circularity perspective.

TRACE is led by CNR (National Research Council, Italy) under the activities aimed at the sustainable development of small urban areas, and comprises seven European partners, which will together engage entrepreneurs in the tourism and culture sector to up-skill their competencies in the sustainability and circular economy fields, increase their performances and foster new partnerships and collaborations in diverse European remote and small urban areas. The project is co-funded by the European Commission under the Single Market Programme (SMP SMP/SME Pillar). To select the most ambitious enterprises willing to become the next sustainability “champions”, TRACE launched an Open Call for European tourism and culture SMEs (deadline 30^th June – link) to support them in the development of enhanced circular business strategies, including access to environmental certifications, as well as activities aimed at enhancing skills and market opportunities.

The TRACE Support Programme will provide free, high-level action-learning training and specialised support to 100 ambitious European tourism and culture SMEs in Italy, Cyprus, Romania, Belgium and Spain, as well as a direct Grant of 7,200 Euro, to speed up their sustainability plans. Furthermore, cooperation and collaboration networks will be established between the participating SMEs in diverse European urban areas, building bridges with other local stakeholders, to strengthen their territorial resilience as “ecosystems”.

To follow the TRACE Support Programme:

LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/trace-support-programme-for-tourism-smes/

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