An Initiative on Capitalising Tourism's prospects of the region

Acronym	CapTour
Project Number – MIS	5070751
Priority axis	1 - A Competitive and Innovative Cross-Border Area
Investment priorities	3a - Promoting entrepreneurship, in particular by facilitating the economic exploitation of new ideas and fostering the creation of new firms, including through business incubators
Intervention fields	066. Advanced support services for SMEs and groups of SMEs (including management, marketing and design services)
Call	6th CALL FOR PROJECT PROPOSALS
Lead Beneficiary	HELLLENIC HOTELIERS FEDRATION
Beneficiaries	ASSOCIATION OF HOTELIERS, RESTAURANTEURS AND TOUR OPERATORS SANDANSK RESEARCH ACCOUNT FOR THE UNIVERSITY OF MACEDONIA RHODOPES HOTELIERS AND RESTAURANTEURS ASSOCIATION
Start Date	May 06, 2021
End Date	Dec 05, 2023
Budget	578.049,70 €
ERDF Contribution	491.342,25 €
National Contribution	86.707,46 €
Website	https://captour.hhf.gr

CapTour project consists of a set of actions, to be implemented over a 2-year period with an ultimate goal to strengthen the key factors affecting entrepreneurial success in the tourism industry within the CB area. The project is focusing on the SMEs of this sector, since the place and role of small and medium enterprises in the tourism and hospitality industry have a great impact on the socio-economic development of the CB area and tourism entrepreneurship development is considered as a dynamic factor in the development of local communities.

Strengthening the factors affecting entrepreneurship in tourism industry development entails the realization of concrete actions with a great impact in the Organizational, the Network and the Technological factors affecting it. Its implementation is expected to result in the:
- Enhancement of the entrepreneurial business support environment in tourism sector that nurtures entrepreneurship and entrepreneurs (including startups) through the provision of tailored services to their real needs (e.g. provision of personalized support services) and through the realization of activities targeting at building business networks.
- Strengthening of cross-border business opportunities in the tourism through the realization of concrete activities such as the realization of sectoral round tables, building networks business forums, study visits, thematic workshops and finally the establishment of a business forum as a meeting point of the businesses active in the value chain of tourism.
- Enhancing skills and capacity building in tourism sector through the realization of skills enhancement trainings, short sessions for boosting business skills, consultancy group sessions and the provision of personalized support services and business coaching for entrepreneurs.

While, after its completion and through the development of the “Partnership Opportunity Platform” – a platform that will stay live and updated after project’s completion - the main results of the project will further contribute to the improvement of entrepreneurship conditions.

The project, at this 2nd phase of evaluation, is seen as of even more crucial importance for (a) the sector and (b) the cross border area, due to the impact that the ongoing health crisis (COVID-19) has in it which resulted in major changes in the touristic industry overall, compared to the state of things during its initial application. CapTour’s partners, who are key stakeholders of the specific sector of the eligible programme area, now more than ever before, stress the need for exploiting any possible opportunity for addressing the major concerns that this crisis raised, therefore address this initiative as a tool in achieving the businesses adaptation to the ‘new era’ of things.