Partners
Breda University of Applied Sciences (BUAS) – Netherlands
BUAS is a specialised and inclusive university of applied sciences with 7,000 students, emphasising personal innovation. It aspires to be a globally leading knowledge institute with industry-relevant, high-quality, small-scale, and innovative education and research. The core expertise lies in tourism, leisure, hospitality, logistics, and mobility, with expanding domains like serious games and media. The university’s strength comes from close collaborations with industry partners, fostering interdisciplinary research. Sustainability is a crucial research theme, and BUAS collaborates internationally, leading initiatives like the Logistics Community Brabant and the Centre of Expertise Leisure Tourism and Hospitality. Over the decades, BUAS has contributed to high-impact research, particularly in sustainable tourism.
The BCC serves as a cross-sectoral representative institution that brings together economic operators spanning diverse industries. One of its key focal points is tourism, where it provides a range of services, training, and workshops covering essential topics such as digitalisation, sustainability practices, marketing strategies and client management. In the realm of innovation, the BCC actively manages programs and support services centred around sustainable, digital, corporate, and open innovation. It plays a crucial role in providing technical and financial assistance to Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) engaged in these innovative initiatives. Furthermore, the BCC has established robust connections with both private and public stakeholders in the region’s tourism sector.
Institute for Tourism Research in Northern Europe (NIT) – Germany
NIT, a tourism research and consulting institute, specialises in four main areas: basic research, market research, consultancy, and sustainable tourism development. The institute has considerable experience in EU-funded tourism projects, including Tourban, CHARM, and HikingEurope (COSME). In these projects, NIT has supported SMEs, produced research reports and policy recommendations, conceptualised, and organised training sessions, and facilitated connections between private and public stakeholders. As an active member of NECSTouR, NIT is dedicated to a regenerative approach to tourism destination and business development and their sustainable certification.
INOVA+ – Portugal
INOVA+ is a leading Portuguese company promoting, managing, disseminating, and exploiting international projects focused on Innovation, Training, and Research & Technological Development. The company aims to offer the knowledge, management capacity, partnerships, and technical and financial support necessary to develop innovation projects. INOVA+ has successfully managed over 40 international innovation projects and is actively involved in supporting the dissemination and exploitation of research-funded projects.
Latvian Country Tourism Association (LC) – Latvia
LC, a sector association, represents rural tourism service providers in Latvia, including accommodation, food production, processing, and catering SMEs. Active since 1993, LC acts as both a sector association and a Destination Management Organisation (DMO) for its areas and members. It collaborates with independent experts in tourism, sustainability, nature, and marketing. LC supports rural tourism SMEs through consultation and training in quality accommodation services, ICT, (re)design of rural tourism products using local resources, and assistance in obtaining the Green Certificate—a national quality and sustainability certification for rural tourism. LC offers marketing and promotion support, permanent destination marketing and management services, and business knowledge support through an online training platform with courses, research, and guidelines. As a member of Eurogites, LC incorporates the best European rural tourism practices into its offerings in Latvia.
Malta Tourism Authority (MTA) – Malta
The Malta Tourism Authority (MTA) regulates and promotes Malta’s tourism industry, fostering partnerships and emphasising sustainability. It works to dis-season tourist flows and prioritise high-quality tourism. Internationally, the MTA engages in forums like the European Travel Commission, UNWTO, and Eurostat, focusing on sustainability. The MTA is set to implement a proposal for revamping tourism statistics and creating monitoring tools for sustainability and digitalisation in the private tourism sector.
Arctur – Slovenia
Arctur is an R&D-oriented SME specialising in ICT, particularly as a significant provider of High Performance Computing (HPC) services in Central and Eastern Europe. With its HPC and Cloud Computing infrastructure, Arctur actively engages in EU projects, including the ongoing Horizon 2020 flagship project Fortissimo. The company leads the Tourism 4.0 initiative, collaborating with 150+ international members to integrate Industry 4.0 technologies for innovative solutions in intelligent tourism.
Regional Development Agency for Bjelasica, Komovi and Prokletije (RDA BKP) – Montenegro
RDA BKP aims to enhance the development of the Bjelasica, Komovi, and Prokletije region (BKP) by closely collaborating with local public and private stakeholders. They focus on increasing the absorption of EU funds and boosting employment, particularly in the tourism and agricultural sectors. The organisation actively networks with local governments and stakeholders in agriculture and tourism to collectively strategise the development of the BKP region.