According to the need analysis carried out by TourINN-Act partners, the lack of digital tools and financial support were the main issues addressed by tourism SMEs that prevented them to keep their businesses on track.

Tourism was the first economic activity hit by the Covid19 lockdowns. Due to mobility restrictions and health measures, SMEs in the sector couldn’t overcome the situation by themselves. They had to close doors and wait for the situation to be reverted. Now that Covid19 lockdowns are part of history, tourism SMEs find themselves in the hard task to maintain their business and get back to the figures they were before the pandemic.

The TourINN-Act project was conceived to help SMEs uptake digital solutions and provide financial support through a voucher scheme to contribute in boosting affected SMEs during the pandemic. Therefore, the project envisaged launching an Open Call to select those beneficiaries to be provided with financial support.

The Open Call for Beneficiaries will be launched in March 2023 and will remain open for two months. The aim is to provide financial support of up to 10.000€ to a minimum of 60 tourism SMEs from Romania, Spain, Italy, Greece and Cyprus. The application process will be explained during an Open Innovation Seminar where other resources developed in the project for tourism SMEs will be also shown such as the TourINN Platform, the Step-by-Step guide to help implement innovative services, and the TourINN Catalogue of Digital and Sustainable practices in which tourism SMEs will be able to acquire digital and sustainable services with the funds provided through the financial support.

The TourINN-Act project encourages all tourism SMEs (Accommodations and intermediaries of travel) from Romania, Spain, Italy, Greece and Cyprus to participate in the process to get financial support and leverage from the resources that are available in the project.