The City of Kiel is one of seven pilot cities in the EU’s Tourban project, which aims to help companies in city tourism become more competitive and sustainable. And not only from an ecological perspective, but also from an economic and social one. In addition to Kiel, Amsterdam, Barcelona, Budapest, Copenhagen, Dubrovnik and Tallinn are also pilot cities of Tourban.
Specifically, Tourban is about corporate actions that reduce costs and resource consumption while increasing revenue through innovative marketing and product ideas.
The project started in September 2020 and will run until March 2023. The complete project budget is just over 1.3 million euros, 75% of which is co-financed by the EU’s COSME funding program. About half of the total budget is earmarked for direct financial assistance to SMEs. The NIT is one of the project partners and responsible for all activities in and around Kiel. In general, the Tourban network is open to all interested companies and organizations and offers the opportunity for exchange, insight into project results and participation in events. Further information will be continuously added to the project website https://www.tourban.eu/.
For a first overview of the project, see the Tourban introduction video:
In the first months, Tourban has been looking at the challenges in tourism in the pilot cities. The short report on the results of the situation analysis can be found here: Brief Report Situation Analysis Tourban
In addition, there is a first collection with interesting initiatives in the cities and with good approaches in the companies: Sustainable urban tourism for cities and SME-managers
Funding opportunities for companies in and around Kiel:
Within the framework of the project, seven partner companies in Kiel and the surrounding area can be funded with 10,000 euros each (100% funding quota). The purpose of the funding is the implementation of own sustainability ideas in the company. The duration is 12 months from fall 2021. Eligible for funding are small and medium-sized enterprises in Kiel and the surrounding area, with fewer than 250 employees and annual sales of no more than 50 million euros, from the following categories:
- Hotels and similar accommodation
- commercial landlords of vacation apartments
- Campsites
- Intermediaries of travel services and incoming organizer
At an information event held on May 20, 2021 and aimed at stakeholders from Kiel and neighboring regions, the Tourban project was presented, and the challenges and initiatives in the pilot cities were highlighted and reference was made to the initial results from Kiel. In addition, best practice examples, certificates and labels were named.
The presentation slides are available here (DE).
Funding and participation opportunities are summarized again in this video (DE).
With the completion of the project in June this year (2023), a selection of good practice examples was published: