Sustainable tourism
Who can receive funding?
Where is the funding eligible?
How much funding is available?
Why is it beneficial to participate?
How can you participate?
How to start?
The following types of organisations can form partnerships and submit applications (non-exhaustive list):
- Local and regional authorities and their associations;
- Formal associations, clusters and networks of SMEs;
- Chambers of commerce, business development agencies, tourist agencies and other business support and financial
organisations; - NGOs providing promotion and marketing services linked directly or indirectly to the tourism and cultural sector;
- Institutions of natural, culture and national heritage protection;
- Forest management institutions;
- R&D and educational institutions.
Where is the funding eligible?
- in Denmark – Regional Municipality of Bornholm and Region Zealand (subregions: Østsjælland, Vest- og Sydsjælland);
- in Germany – districts (Landkreise) of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern: Nordwestmecklenburg, Rostock, Vorpommern-Rügen, Vorpommern-Greifswald and district-free city (kreisfreie Stadt): Rostock;
- in Lithuania – counties of Klaipėda, Tauragė and Telšiai;
- in Poland – subregions of: Miasto Szczecin, Szczeciński, Stargardzki, Koszaliński, Słupski, Starogardzki, Gdański, Trójmiejski and Elbląski;
- in Sweden – counties of: Kalmar, Blekinge, Skåne and Kronoberg.
How much funding is available?
The Programme provides co-financing from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) for cooperation activities between two or more organisations from at least two participating Member States. The funds available for sustainable tourism amount to ca. 19,8 M EUR. The co-financing rate for Polish, Lithuanian and German beneficiaries is up to 85% of their eligible project costs, while Swedish and Danish beneficiaries receive up to 75% of ERDF co-financing. The ERDF co-financing is paid on the basis of semi-annual reimbursements.
Why is it beneficial to participate?
By participating in a project you would be able to:
- investigate best practices and exchange knowledge and experience related to sustainable tourism;
- cooperate with partners and jointly develop tailored solutions for the tourism sector in your region and beyond;
- test innovative methods and tools that could help to extend the tourist season and diversify the currently prevailing tourism patterns;
- form international networks with organisations pursuing the same mission;
- experience the cross-sector cooperation possibilities in an international setting.
- Your organisation has a legal personality;
- Your organisation is based in the eligible area (in exceptional and well-justified cases, project partners can be located outside the eligible Programme area; see section III.2 of the Programme Manual);
- Your organisation faces a challenge/an opportunity related to sustainable tourism development;
- The challenge/opportunity requires joint actions across borders;
- The joint action can be accomplished by your organisation and your partner organisation(s) from (an)other Member State(s);
- The joint action will be carried out in the Programme eligible area;
- The joint action corresponds with a Programme specific objective.
The Programme resources are invested in key areas relevant to the South Baltic blue and green economy. These are called specific objectives. One of them is sustainable tourism. Your potential project is expected to correspond with specific objective 2.1.
Specific objective 2.1
Can you help Interreg South Baltic to increase the development of the South Baltic area’s natural and cultural heritage assets into
sustainable tourist destinations? What we are looking for are blue and green tourism services, products and tools that help to increase
the number of visits in cultural and natural heritage sites as well as pilot investments in blue and green tourism infrastructure.
- Get in touch with a Contact Point in your region: www.southbaltic.eu/contact-points
- Share a project idea for consultation with the Joint Secretariat: www.southbaltic.eu/consultation
- Look for upcoming calls for proposals: www.southbaltic.eu/call-for-proposals
- Check for possibilities to fund project development activities: www.southbaltic.eu/seed-money