- The European capital will host an online workshop to discuss the future of the tourism sector on Tuesday April 9 from 10:00 to 12:00.
- The event, Building Tourism Ecosystems in Belgium, is part of the European FU-TOURISM project.
- Experts will analyze the opportunities offered by a sector that must adapt to the new reality of sustainability and digitalization.
This Tuesday 9 April, from 10:00 to 12:00 CEST, the Finnova Foundation, from Brussels, will present the online workshop Building Touristic Ecosystems in Belgium, the second workshop organized as part of the European FU-TOURISM project. The event aims to build a local ecosystem and explore the potential and challenges of the Belgian tourism sector, sharing best practices focused on sustainability and digitalization.
Under the title “The importance of sustainability and digitalization in tourism”, experts and stakeholders from the Belgian tourism sector will discuss the future of a sector in full rush to innovate, and the dual green and digital transition. They will share their projects and best practices in digitalization and/or sustainability in tourism, highlighting the potential and challenges they face. The presentations will be followed by a round table discussion that will enable all stakeholders to generate a dialogue on the challenges of sustainability and digitization in different tourism sectors.
This workshop is part of the European FU-TOURISM project, which supports European tourism SMEs in their transition to a green, digital and inclusive economy, with a focus on applying the principles of the regenerative economy. Funded with 4 million euros from the SMP program (COSME’s predecessor program) and with a duration of 36 months (2023-2026), the European FU-TOURISM project is led by EUPOLIS Group and is composed by a partnership of eight entities from Croatia, Belgium, Spain, Greece, Austria, Poland, and Italy.
“One of the objectives of the program is to enable accelerated SMEs to access European funds through programs such as Interreg, LIFE, Digital Europe and Horizon, enabling their project can benefit from additional funding up to 2 million euros through these programs,” explains Juan Manuel Revuelta, CEO of Finnova, a partner in the project, from Brussels.
LIVING LABS FOR THE TRANSITION OF TOURISM SMES One of the main pillars of the FU-TOURISM project is the development of a platform and network of 4-Helix collaborative clusters, known as Living Labs for the transition of tourism SMEs. These clusters will enable SMEs to be placed at the heart of the tourism ecosystem, adopting a multi-actor approach that considers the broader needs of the destination, visitors and local citizens. “This objective of living labs is strategic, as it aims to generate local actions that can be replicated and have an impact at European and global level,” emphasizes Revuelta.