The first call of the Interreg North-West Europe (NWE) 2021-2027 is now open! As of the 22nd of March, the application can be submitted through an online form!

Tourism as one of the Strategic Objectives of the Call

In the programme document, tourism is mentioned in the general objective “Inclusive” where one of the Strategic Objectives (SO) is “Enhancing the role of culture and sustainable tourism in economic development, social inclusion and social innovation”.

Within this SO, the Programme aims to support projects that:

• Increase sustainable and territorially balanced tourism whilst considering the green and digital transformation.
• Improve social inclusion and social innovation (including better access to and involvement in tourism and culture sectors for vulnerable people).
• Improve access to sustainable management of natural and cultural heritage assets.

The combination of these activities may lead to the following results:

• Reconcile stakeholder interests and cooperation networks, and enable target groups to benefit from hidden, unknown assets, improved skills, and networking.
• Enable better access to and involvement in tourism and culture sectors for vulnerable people (e.g., elderly, disabled, unemployed, single parents, young people not in employment, education or training, people living in deprived areas, migrants, refugees, etc.).
• Renovate or better preserve and more accessible natural and cultural heritage sites.

However, the rest of the programme targets a lot of areas where tourism can be a relevant sector: Climate and environment, Circular economy, Innovation and resilience, Energy transition.

Who Can Apply?

The eligible entities include private sector players, academic and research players, civil society and public administrations (local, regional and national authorities, EGTCs, government agencies, public equivalent organisations with competence in the areas dealt with, etc.). It is highly recommended that all parts of society is represented in the consortium even if they do not have the same level of involvement.

The consortium must be composed of at least three partners from three different countries (usually more) of which at least two must belong to the programme area. The North-West Europe area covers Belgium, the Netherlands, Ireland, Luxembourg, some regions in the north of France, some regions in the West of Germany and Switzerland.

Lastly, the lead partner must be a public, non-profit, or public-law body and be located in the NWE programme area.

How to Build Your Project Application

Transnational partnerships are invited to submit their project proposal under one priority, and within this chosen priority under one specific objective.

The North-West Europe Interreg Programme defines 3 categories of activities which projects can undertake:

1. Elaboration and implementation of joint strategies and/or action plans.
2. Joint development and implementation of pilot actions testing tools and/or solutions.
3. Capacity building and awareness raising activities.

A combination of at least 2 of the activities above should be designed and implemented in the framework of one project.

Interreg North West Europe offered some tips to write a good project:

• Clearly reflect the partners needs and the relevance to the NWE area and contribute to the programme objectives.
• Have a good partnership structure including all parts of society (public organisations, private organisations, civil society and academic) and explain the added value of the partners.
• Have measurable objectives and define measurable results.
• Capitalise on existing knowledge, projects and go beyond existing approaches.
• The project must have a long-term effect.
• Communication is key: set up a communication strategy (define target audience, disseminate the project results…).
• Anticipate the potential risks (at least 3 scenarios) you can encounter during the implementation of the project.

Project proposals must be submitted via the monitoring system of NWE Program: Jems. A summary presentation of the project must also be provided in the four languages of the program (Dutch, English, French, German).

NECSTouR is Getting Ready!

NECSTouR members are invited to contact NECSTouR secretariat if they are interested in creating a project for the programme or to join a consortium. NECSTouR plans to submit a project proposal based on the Barcelona Declaration “Better places to live, better places to visit”. The Barcelona Declaration seeks to demonstrate what tourism and cultural heritage sectors can achieve by working more closely together, for the benefit of European citizens and cultural heritage as well as businesses, visitors and destinations.

Next Steps

The selection procedure will take place in two phases.

• By June 15 2022 at 12:00 pm: applicants must submit a first application file containing an outline of the project proposal. They must explain what challenges and/or opportunities they address in the NWE territories and why cooperation is needed to tackle them. Applications must include the project need and justification, objective, the intended partnership, and the envisaged results.
• By December 15, 2022 at 12:00 pm: applicants being selected following stage 1 will be invited to submit a full proposal incorporating all details on the final partnership, work programme and project budget.

If selected after stage 2 of the procedure, activities’ project will start in February 2023.