Smart Social Economy Model in Tourism (Long Distance Trails)

Expected Outcome:

Objectives

This pilot project seeks to integrate social economy principles into sustainable tourism and foster transnational cooperation among local communities along one or more selected long trails or specific portion of one or several long trails crossing EU Member States.

The objective is to promote socio-economic and territorial development through a bottom-up approach, using existing long-distance tourist trails as test cases for sustainable tourism, notably in rural areas.

The project targets transnational consortia to explore and test sustainable tourism models along these trails, based on social economy approaches, creating blueprints for possible replication across other EU regions.

This initiative complements other existing EU efforts by leveraging local capacities to foster smart social economy models for sustainable rural development.

Expected impact

The call is expected to:

• Explore and test ideas on how to better integrate social economy principles into sustainable tourism;
• Facilitate transnational cooperation of local communities and cross-border transfer of good practices;
• Increase awareness about the potential of the social economy and the social enterprises in the sector of tourism;
• Increase capacity of local authorities in using social economy to promote sustainable tourism.

Scope:

In the context of this call, the Commission intends to support transnational partnerships. The testing dimension, evaluation and scaling, will be fundamental aspects of the expected proposals. The priority is to set up community-led, sustainable tourism models grounded in social economy principles or bring them at scale marketable practices.

The call for proposals will provide support to those local actors (including local authorities, DMOs and other tourism stakeholders) and social economy entities currently delivering services or goods, or those willing to design and develop new services or goods, allowing to reach the objectives of the call.

To ensure the initiative delivers durable, inclusive benefits, all the following themes need careful consideration:

• Encourage local communities to identify challenges linked to long trails, codesign and take ownership of solutions and support initiatives that integrate cultural heritage and rural development.

• Consider the concrete needs of social economy entities, how they align with an evolving touristic demand and embed them in relevant long-term tourism strategies along the trail.

• Consider the perceptions of local communities regarding tourism impacts on the lives and economic opportunities of residents, to ensure sustainable and effective socio-economic returns, ensuring long-term benefits for both residents and visitors.

• Look for synergies between local authorities (including DMOs) and social economy entities for environmental stewardship, data sharing, digital innovation, and skills development.

• Promote social inclusion, including through entrepreneurship among under represented groups such as senior, women and youth.

• Focus on local value chains that retain economic benefits within rural communities, fostering inclusive growth.