FU-TOURISM policy workshop in Belgium unites key actors to drive green and digital innovation in European tourism during EU Green Week 2025
- Leaders from across Europe gather to address sustainability challenges, foster innovation, and co-create strategies for the future of tourism in a dynamic online policy workshop.
- The event highlights EU funding opportunities, showcases best practices, and promotes collaboration among SMEs, institutions, and regional actors committed to a greener and more digital tourism ecosystem.
As part of EU Green Week 2025, the online policy workshop “FU-TOURISM: Shaping the Future of Tourism with Green & Digital Innovation” brought together institutional representatives and leading companies from the tourism sector to explore how to accelerate the green and digital transition in Europe.
The session opened with a welcome by Andrés López, Senior Advisor for Tourism and Communication at the Finnova Foundation, who introduced the event’s objectives focused on innovation, sustainability, and collaboration across the tourism ecosystem. This was followed by an insightful presentation by José Cruz, Coordinator of the Global Initiative of the Association of European Border Regions (AEBR), addressing key challenges and opportunities in sustainable cross-border tourism policies.
One of the event’s main highlights was the local discussion table on Belgium’s tourism ecosystem, featuring key voices such as Frank Bosteels (Belgian Travel Confederation), Niki de Schryver and Marie Budde (Cosh!), José María Castillejo (Iky Entertainment), Eleonora Censorii (Destination Everywhere), and Sietse Schelpe (Wetime). Participants shared local insights and proposed collaborative strategies to support digitalization and environmental sustainability in tourism, co-creating action plans for regional transformation.
The workshop concluded with remarks by Juan Manuel Revuelta, CEO of Finnova, who emphasized the critical role of EU funding in supporting innovation within the tourism sector, highlighting the FU-TOURISM acceleration programme as a concrete opportunity for SMEs, and it highlighted the specific needs and how the tourism sector can work around and contribute to policy development in Belgium.
FU-TOURISM is an ambitious acceleration programme funded with €4 million by the European Commission under the SMP-COSME programme. Its mission is to promote the green and digital transformation of tourism SMEs across six countries: Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Spain, Greece, and Poland.
The initiative will support 60 selected SMEs (10 per country) with €20,000 in direct funding, a comprehensive 8-month hybrid training programme, tailored mentorship, and expert consultancy. Participants will also gain access to EU financing tools, potentially securing up to €2 million in additional support for innovation-driven projects.
In 2025, FU-TOURISM will launch a second acceleration programme aimed at SME associations, offering up to €30,000 in funding per entity. FU-TOURISM also includes pilot activities in Valencia and Poreč-Parenzo, two destinations that will serve as living laboratories under the Destination Management Organization (DMO) model. These pilots will apply the Quadruple Helix approach—fostering collaboration among businesses, public administrations, research institutions, and civil society—to generate scalable, sustainable tourism innovations.
As one of only six projects selected under the SMP-COSME-2022-TOURSME call, FU-TOURISM stands out as the largest in terms of budget and impact. With this initiative, FU-TOURISM reaffirms its commitment to building a more resilient, competitive, and innovative tourism sector, aligned with the European Union’s sustainability and digitalization goals.
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