Open European call to strengthen the competitiveness of tourism SMEs: emphasis on sustainability, digitalisation and new routes
The European Commission has opened a new call for project proposals entitled
Supporting Sustainable Competitiveness in Tourism – SMP-COSME-2026-TOURSME-01, intended to strengthen the competitiveness of small and medium-sized enterprises in the tourism sector. This is a call that fits into the broader European framework of the green and digital transition, but also into the effort to make tourism in the European Union more resilient to crises, market disruptions and changes in traveller behaviour. According to official data, the call opened on 3 March 2026, and applications are being accepted until 20 May 2026 at 17:00 Brussels time. The total available budget amounts to 6.9 million euros, and the European Commission expects to finance around five projects.
For the tourism sector, this call is important because it does not view sustainability merely as an ecological add-on to the existing offer, but as an integral part of the future market position of European tourism enterprises. At the heart of the call are projects that should help enterprises develop more sustainable products and services, apply digital solutions, improve business resilience and strengthen cooperation within destinations and among regions. The European Commission particularly emphasises that the selected projects should result in fully functional and self-sustaining tourism routes by the end of the co-financing period, which gives this call a very concrete development dimension.
Tourism routes as the backbone of development
One of the most important specific features of this call is the strong focus on establishing
thematic and/or geographical tourism routes and developing related tourism ecosystems. This means that applicants are not expected merely to design individual promotional activities or isolated innovations, but to create broader cooperation models that can connect multiple stakeholders in the same area or around the same theme. In practice, this may include cultural, gastronomic, natural, industrial, health, rural or other specialised routes that connect multiple sites, enterprises and organisations into a single whole.
According to the call documentation, such routes should help achieve a more balanced development of tourism. This is particularly important in the European context, in which some destinations have for years already been facing the pressure of overtourism, while at the same time many rural, remote, coastal and less developed areas are seeking sustainable models of economic growth. That is precisely why the Commission sees room in this call for projects that can relieve the most burdened destinations, while at the same time increasing the visibility of lesser-known areas and extending the tourist season. Such an approach is important not only for tourism figures, but also for local communities, because it distributes the benefits of tourism more successfully and reduces the negative effects of concentrated pressure on infrastructure, the environment and the everyday life of the population.
Special emphasis is also placed on ensuring that tourism routes do not remain merely a marketing concept. The European Commission clearly states that the development of ecosystems that will be able to function even after the end of financing is expected. In other words, the goal is not a temporary project with no continuation, but a model that will generate long-term cooperation, a stronger market presence and sustainable business effects for the involved small and medium-sized enterprises.
Who can apply and what partnerships must look like
The call is not intended for individual tourism companies that would apply on their own for their own project. Applications may be submitted by
legal entities under public or private law from European Union Member States, as well as from certain EEA states and countries associated with the Single Market Programme or those in the process of association, under the conditions set out in the official documentation. The key message is that organisations are being sought that can support tourism SMEs, bring together relevant actors and lead more complex transnational projects.
The call lays down the composition of the consortium very precisely. It is necessary to bring together at least five and at most eight independent entities. Among them there must be at least
three destination management organisations from at least two eligible countries and at least
two business support organisations, also from at least two eligible countries. Such a structure shows that the Commission does not want projects closed within a single administrative or promotional logic, but partnerships that combine destination management, entrepreneurship development, knowledge transfer and international cooperation.
In the original description of the call, clusters, research institutions, business support organisations and other organisations that can help tourism SMEs develop more competitive business operations are also listed among the eligible stakeholders. This also means that a successful application will depend not only on a good idea, but also on the ability to bring together partners who can jointly cover product development, digital solutions, training, destination management and support for enterprises on the ground.
How much money is available and what is funded
The estimated total budget of the call amounts to
6.9 million euros, with the possibility of an increase of up to 20 per cent if additional funding becomes available. The Commission states that it expects to finance around five projects, and the recommended amount of the requested grant per project ranges between
1.2 and 1.4 million euros. This does not mean that other amounts are automatically not possible, but it sends a clear signal about the scale of projects Brussels wants to see: large enough to build a concrete international model of cooperation, but also focused enough to deliver measurable results.
It is particularly important to understand the financing model. According to the call document, the costs of financial support to third parties, that is, SMEs that will be covered by the project support schemes, may be financed at a rate of 100 per cent, while other categories of costs are financed at a rate of 90 per cent. In other words, consortia must take into account the need for their own co-financing for part of the implementation activities, while direct support to enterprises is covered more generously by the rules of the call. The Commission also states that the maximum amount of support per individual third-party beneficiary, that is, SME, is
15,000 euros.
The call also provides for a
financial support to third parties scheme, which means that the selected consortia will not only implement their own project activities but will also, through a transparent call, allocate financial support to tourism SMEs. The number of SMEs that must be covered by this scheme ranges between
10 and 30. This is an important element because it shows that the European Commission wants the effect of the call not to remain at the level of institutional partners, but to flow concretely to enterprises operating on the market and needing to invest in new services, experiences, products and business models.
Digitalisation, sustainability and resilience are no longer separate topics
Although the public often speaks separately about the green transition, digitalisation and strengthening skills, this call practically merges them into a single development logic. The official documentation states that projects should contribute to greater uptake of sustainability, digitalisation and innovation, including greener practices, new technologies, data-driven solutions and circular approaches. This means that tourism competitiveness in European policies is measured less and less solely by growth in arrivals, and increasingly by the quality of business models, efficient resource management and the ability to adapt to change.
The European Commission additionally emphasises the resilience of tourism SMEs, that is, their ability to respond to economic, environmental and social challenges. This is no coincidence. In recent years, European tourism has gone through pandemic disruptions, energy and inflationary pressures, changes in traveller behaviour, heightened sustainability demands and the growing importance of digital platforms and data. In that context, the call SMP-COSME-2026-TOURSME-01 is not conceived as a classic subsidy for promotion, but as a tool for the deep adaptation of the sector.
In that sense, the broader political framework is also important. Back in 2022, the European Commission published the
Transition Pathway for Tourism, a strategic framework created in cooperation with industry, public authorities, social partners and other stakeholders, with the aim of accelerating the green and digital transition and increasing the resilience of the tourism ecosystem. The Commission’s official pages state that this pathway covers the green transition, the digital transition, resilience and skills development, and those very same components are very clearly reflected in the current call for projects.
What this call means for Croatia and similar tourism countries
For countries heavily reliant on tourism, such as Croatia, this kind of call can have multiple meanings. On the one hand, it opens up space for international partnerships in which domestic destination management organisations, development agencies, clusters or research institutions can become part of broader European projects. On the other hand, the call encourages precisely those changes that have been discussed for years in Croatian tourism: a greater shift towards a year-round offer, stronger inclusion of inland areas, development of specialised niches, greater added value per guest, smarter use of digital tools and reduced reliance on the mass seasonal model.
Thematic and geographical routes can be particularly interesting for areas that want to connect cultural heritage, eno-gastronomic offerings, active holidays, natural sites and local producers into a single product. Such models can help destinations that are still not sufficiently visible on the international market, but also more developed areas that want to expand their offer beyond the peak summer months. It is also important that the Commission explicitly mentions in the text of the call a more balanced development of tourism and support for less-visited areas, which gives additional weight to projects that do not pursue only traffic growth, but also a more even territorial development.
Still, it should be borne in mind that this call is not simple either administratively or in terms of content. It requires an international consortium, a clear methodology for working with SMEs, a developed financial scheme for third parties, a sustainable model of a tourism route and the ability to demonstrate impact. This means that competitive applications will probably come from partnerships that already have experience in European projects, transnational cooperation and the development of tourism products. For organisations that are only now entering such processes, the most important challenge could be finding the right partners and shaping the consortium early enough.
Deadlines, procedure and what applicants should keep in mind
According to the published information, this is a single-stage application procedure. The call opened on 3 March 2026, and the final deadline for submitting project proposals is
20 May 2026 at 17:00. Evaluation is planned during June and July 2026. According to the call rules, projects should as a rule last between
30 and 48 months, which confirms that the Commission expects multiannual, developmentally serious interventions, and not short-term campaigns.
Also important is the provision according to which applicants and affiliated entities may participate in only one application under the same call. In other words, organisations cannot simultaneously be part of multiple consortia and wait to see which one will pass. This provision further increases the importance of early agreement among partners and careful selection of the project niche. The Commission also warns that applications must be financially balanced and that applicants must have sufficient resources for the successful implementation of the project.
For interested organisations, this in practice means that preparing an application should not begin with the technical form, but with strategic questions. Which route or related tourism ecosystem do they want to develop. What problem are they solving through it. How will they include SMEs in the project and according to which criteria will they allocate support to them. In what way will they ensure that the results remain sustainable after the end of financing. It is precisely the answers to these questions that will probably distinguish routine project proposals from those that truly respond to the goals of European tourism policy.
A call that reveals the direction of European tourism policy
Apart from the financial opportunity itself, the new call also reveals the broader direction in which European policy towards tourism is moving. Within the Single Market Programme, tourism is not viewed merely as a sector of consumption and traffic, but as an economic ecosystem that must be more innovative, more sustainable, more technologically prepared and better connected with local development. This is also confirmed by the official description of the Single Market Programme, for which the European Commission states that it has a total budget of 4.2 billion euros for the period 2021–2027 and that among its objectives, strengthening the single market and the competitiveness of enterprises, especially SMEs, have a special place.
That is precisely why the call SMP-COSME-2026-TOURSME-01 goes beyond the narrow framework of a single sectoral call. It shows that more is expected from European tourism than mere recovery and a return to old patterns. It is asked to develop models that distribute tourist flows better, open space for new business niches, use data and digital tools, reduce environmental pressure and create more resilient local ecosystems. For organisations engaged in tourism development, this is at the same time both an opportunity and a test of their ability to turn European priorities into concrete, measurable and market-sustainable projects.
Sources:- European Innovation Council and SMEs Executive Agency – official call page with the opening date, application deadline and basic description of the call (link)- European Commission / Funding & Tenders – official call document with eligibility conditions, consortium composition, budget, financing rules and expected impacts (link)- European Commission – overview of the Single Market Programme with the total budget and programme objectives for the period 2021–2027 (link)- European Commission / Mobility and Transport – explanation of the relevance of the Single Market Programme for tourism (link)- European Commission / Mobility and Transport – official overview of the transition of tourism in the EU, with an emphasis on the green and digital transition, resilience and skills (link)- European Commission / EU Tourism Platform – report on the progress of implementing the Transition Pathway for Tourism up to 2024 (link)
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