Tourban (Accelerating SMEs capacity and innovation for sustainable urban tourism) intends to strongly contribute to foster the adaptation of European tourism companies towards more sustainable, low-carbon and resource-efficient business models. Tourban recognises that small businesses are the backbone of the tourism sector and as such, they are essential players in leading a transformation towards more sustainable forms of tourism, through innovation, responsiveness, efficiency and the development of specific skills and expertise.
To support tourism SMEs in taking the leadership of this transformation, Tourban aims to improve their access to knowledge, capacity and investments concerning sustainability. Specifically, this report contributes to the first of this 3-step approach (knowledge – capacity - investments) by generating knowledge about challenges and opportunities regarding sustainability in tourism and providing inspiration through examples of success stories and projects developed by frontrunners in sustainability (SMEs in particular) in the seven Tourban pilot cities (Barcelona, Copenhagen, Dubrovnik, Tallinn, Budapest, Amsterdam and Kiel).
Tourban intends to achieve its objectives by leveraging SMEs’ capabilities and skills to identify best practices and develop innovative solutions that make them more sustainable and competitive. Overall, this report can be earmarked as a manual for SME managers, responding to Tourban’s objective of generating knowledge for SMEs concerning challenges and opportunities regarding sustainability in tourism. This is also in line with outcomes revealed by interviews held with 113 tourism SMEs. Based on these interviews, it seems one of the main factors keeping SMEs managers away from embracing more sustainable practices is the lack of knowledge about sustainability and the perception of being overwhelmed by the complexity and vastness of sustainability. This generates a widespread feeling of ‘not knowing where to start from’ among tourism SMEs. Although certainly not exhaustive, this document provides several useful insights helping tourism SMEs in making the first steps towards a sustainability transformation.
Tourban (Accelerating SMEs capacity and innovation for sustainable urban tourism) intends to strongly contribute to foster the adaptation of European tourism companies towards more sustainable, low-carbon and resource-efficient business models. Tourban recognises that small businesses are the backbone of the tourism sector and as such, they are essential players in leading a transformation towards more sustainable forms of tourism, through innovation, responsiveness, efficiency and the development of specific skills and expertise.
To support tourism SMEs in taking the leadership of this transformation, Tourban aims to improve their access to knowledge, capacity and investments concerning sustainability. Specifically, this report contributes to the first of this 3-step approach (knowledge – capacity - investments) by generating knowledge about challenges and opportunities regarding sustainability in tourism and providing inspiration through examples of success stories and projects developed by frontrunners in sustainability (SMEs in particular) in the seven Tourban pilot cities (Barcelona, Copenhagen, Dubrovnik, Tallinn, Budapest, Amsterdam and Kiel).
Tourban intends to achieve its objectives by leveraging SMEs’ capabilities and skills to identify best practices and develop innovative solutions that make them more sustainable and competitive. Overall, this report can be earmarked as a manual for SME managers, responding to Tourban’s objective of generating knowledge for SMEs concerning challenges and opportunities regarding sustainability in tourism. This is also in line with outcomes revealed by interviews held with 113 tourism SMEs. Based on these interviews, it seems one of the main factors keeping SMEs managers away from embracing more sustainable practices is the lack of knowledge about sustainability and the perception of being overwhelmed by the complexity and vastness of sustainability. This generates a widespread feeling of ‘not knowing where to start from’ among tourism SMEs. Although certainly not exhaustive, this document provides several useful insights helping tourism SMEs in making the first steps towards a sustainability transformation.
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