September 2023
With a diverse and engaging final event in Portugal, SUSTOUR wrapped up its 3-year project period. The 2-day event programme highlighted success stories of 24 participating tour operators from all over Europe and concluded with the Travelife Award Ceremony honouring over 260 SUSTOUR participants that achieved a Travelife Partner or Travelife Certified award.
A highlight video as well as the full panel recordings and presentations are available on the event website.
August 2023
The grand finale: SUSTOUR is hosting a final, hybrid event on 13 - 14 September in Cascais, Portugal
Under the slogan "Empowering European Tour Operators for Sustainable Futures", SUSTOUR is celebrating its achieved results over the 3-year project span during the final event on 13 - 14 September in Cascais. Portugal. The event is set up as a hybrid peer-to-peer learning event, during which 25 success stories of tour operators and travel agents are highlighted in 5 differently themed sustainability panels. In concludes with a Travelife Award Ceremony honouring the sustainability achievments of nearly 300 European tour operators.
March 2023
Successful SUSTOUR events at ITB 2023
ITB Berlin is the place for the travel industry to meet and exchange, and sustainability was high on the agenda this year. The SUSTOUR stage event on Tueday, 7th March celebrated the sustainability achievements of 70 tour operators and travel agents by awarding them the Travelife Partner status or Travelife Certified award.
Find below a summary of the SUSTOUR stage event & Travelife award ceremony, and here a link to the photo album of the stage event.
On Wednesday, 8th March, SUSTOUR invited the participating companies to an exchange event in order to explore and discuss sustainability solutions for different challenges in tour operating: organizing sustainable tours & excursions, reducing single-use plastics in tourism, effectively managing your supply chain , actively reducing and managing carbon emissions as well as successfully marketing sustainability efforts. Here is a photo album of the SME exchange event.
February 2023
SUSTOUR is gearing up for ITB Berlin 2023
After a 3-year hiatus, the world leading travel trade show ITB Berlin is taking place in person again from 7 - 9 March 2023 and with it the SUSTOUR project. We are using this opportunity of the global travel industry meeting in Berlin to present the SUSTOUR project, bring together the participating SMEs and to showcase the tools developed in the frame of the SUSTOUR project.
We invite you to join the SUSTOUR stage event on Tuesday 7 March, 4.30 - 5.30pm in hall 4.1b during which we will celebrate and award the tour operators and travel agents that have achieved a Travelife Partner or Travelife Certified recognition for their sustainability achievements. Please see the programme below.
Visit our SUSTOUR stand in hall 4.1b / 216 to learn more about the project and the tools developed
On Wednesday 8 March, SUSTOUR is hosting an exchange event exclusively for the SUSTOUR participating SMEs from various European countries to exchange their experiences, solutions and ideas in some of the main sustainability topics for tour companies.
January 2023:
SUSTOUR at MATKA Nordic Travel Fair 2023
A SUSTOUR related seminar and an Awards ceremony was organized at Matka Nordic Travel Fair on Thursday 19.1. by one of the project partners SMAL (Association of Finnish Travel Industry). First Anne de Jong gave a presentation on how to become a better tour operator by including the sustainability to companies operations and core functions. After the presentation seven Finnish companies received their Travelife Partner Awards and one company got Travelife Certified. The seminar and Awards ceremony was open for Finnish and international travel trade professionals, suppliers, partners and other stakeholders. About 70 persons attended the event.
January 2023:
SUSTOUR at MATKA Nordic Travel Fair in Helsinki and ITB in Berlin
Are you attending the Matka Nordic Travel Fair on 19-22 January 2023 in Helsinki? Then please join the small get-together organized by SMAL (Association of Finnish Travel Industry) on Wednesday 18 January from 16h-18h at the SMAL office, Vilhonkatu 4B, Helsinki (sign up latest 16 January by sending an e-mail to Jenni Kemppainen, jenni.kemppainen@smal.fi). Join us also for the award ceremony of SMEs that have successfully reached Travelife Partner or Certified at the MATKA fair on 19 January at 16h30, Messukeskus Helsinki, Expo and Convention Centre.
SUSTOUR will also be present at ITB from 7-9 March 2023 in Berlin. Starting on Tuesday 7 March we will organize a SUSTOUR stage and networking event in hall 4.1 starting at 16h30. The event will highlight the benefits of sustainability certification and provide some insights from travel companies that have obtained Travelife certification. Stay with us afterwards for drinks and exchange with other SUSTOUR companies. On Wednesday we will organize a SUSTOUR exchange event for participating SMEs from 14h-18h with experts coming to speak on 4-5 important topics (supply chain, carbon and plastic management as well as sustainable tours and sustainability marketing) followed by break-out work sessions to discuss and exchange best practices and solutions with other companies.
We will also present the new/updated tools developed in the frame of SUSTOUR on plastic and carbon management at our stand in hall 4.1b. Join us for these events or simply come to our stand and chat with us and other SUSTOUR companies.
July 2022
627 European SMEs are participating in the SUSTOUR support programme
A total of 627 tour operators and travel agents from 35 European countries have signed an agreement with SUSTOUR to participate in the project that is financed by the EU COSME programme and thereby benefit from different support programmes to improve their sustainability.
The programme activities will kick off with a welcome webinar on July 13th, followed by training and coaching sessions in the following months. The SUSTOUR support programme runs from July 2022 until the end of June 2023 and supports European travel companies in either working towards a Travelife certification or improving in specific areas of sustainability, being carbon, plastic or supply chain management or the certification of shore excursions.
Please find below the list of the participating SMEs and an overview of companies per country and support module.
June 2022
Publication of 649 selected SMEs for SUSTOUR support programmes
The SUSTOUR consortium is happy to announce that out of 736 applications that were submitted for the SUSTOUR support programme, 649 companies are invited to join the support programmes.
To make the largest possible impact in promoting sustainability in the European travel sector, the SUSTOUR Consortium decided to accept all eligible companies that have achieved sufficient points in their application and offer them the participation in their preferred choice of support module.
The selected companies now have until the 3rd of July to sign a third-party beneficiary agreement and thereby officially become part of the SUSTOUR project.
May 2022:
SME Call closed with over 700 submitted applications
After a two months application period, the SME Call for the technical support programme closed on May 10th, 2022 with over 700 submitted SME applications! The large interest shows the high relevance of the COSME-funded SUSTOUR project in promoting sustainability among European tour operators and travel agents. Thanks to the promotion of SUSTOUR and the outreach done by the project partners and supporting associations, SMEs from 37 European countries submitted their application to benefit from the technical support programme.
Until June, the SUSTOUR project team is reviewing and evaluating the applications and the applicants will be informed as soon as possible.
April 2022:
SUSTOUR webinars inform SMEs about technical support programme
During the application period in March, April and May, several SUSTOUR webinars inform interested SMEs about the benefits and options that the SUSTOUR technical support programme offers them in order to improve their sustainability management. The webinars are conducted in English, Geman, Dutch, Croatian, Finnish, Portuguese and Spanish.
Hundreds of SMEs use this opportunity to learn more about SUSTOUR and get a hands-on insight into the application process.
March 2022:
Call for SMEs was launched
On March 10th, 2022 the SUSTOUR project launched an open call for SMEs to receive EU-funded support services for the improvement of their sustainability performance. All tour operators and travel agencies from eligible European countries are invited to apply for the SME support programme until May 10th, 2022 using the online application form. The selected SMEs will be announced in the beginning of June. The project activites will start in the end of June and run for one year.
February 2022:
21 European tour operator associations support the SUSTOUR project
Additional to the SUSTOUR project partners, 21 tour operator associations from all over Europe have signed a Memorandum of Understanding with SUSTOUR and are thereby actively supporting their members towards the implementation of sustainability practices within their business operations.
On February 9th, 2022 the SUSTOUR coordinators held a webinar for 24 association representatives to introduce them to the Travelife platform and plan the next steps for communicating the benefits to their members.
January 2022:
Conducted Coach and Auditor Virtual Training
In January 2022, 24 European tourism professionals were trained to become a sustainability coach and auditor for tour operators. The training was organised to meet the high demand following the training in June 2021.
Over a time-span of 5 days (10th, 12th, 14th, 18th and 20th January 2022) they were guided through the Travelife program and coaching & audit process by sustainability trainer Chi Nguyen.
The participants came from among others Spain, the Netherlands, France, Finland and Germany.
November 2021:
German online info event about SUSTOUR
On November 10th, 2021 ECEAT organized a German-speaking info event for companies interested in the SUSTOUR project. The goal was to give the participating companies an overview of the Travelife certification process and the benefits that the SUSTOUR project offers them through the SME support programme, which will be launched in 2022.
The interest of the German-speaking companies was large with nearly 50 registrations and over 30 participants following the presentation in real time.
November 2021:
SUSTOUR study tour in Brussels in Nov 2021
In the frame of the 60th anniversary celebrations of ECTAA (The European Travel Agents' and Tour Operators' Associations) the project managers organized a SUSTOUR study tour on November 8th and 9th, 2021 in Brussels. The goal was to inform the ECTAA members about the SUSTOUR project and the technical tools of Travelife, as well as to found the ECTAA Sustainability Committee.
June 2021:
Successful Auditor and Advisor Online Training
In June 2021, 36 European tourism professionals participated in the online Auditor and Advisor training organised by the SUSTOUR team. In three days (18, 21 and 22nd June), the tourism professionals learned everything about the sustainability of tour operators and how to coach and audit a tour operator towards full compliance with sustainability criteria.
The participants came from among others Greece, Montenegro, Slovenia, Croatia, Italy and the Netherlands. Please find the programme below.
June 2021:
Information Session for Tour Operator Associations
On June 15th, 2021 an information session for travel associations was held to inform them about the SUSTOUR project and their opportunities to participate and support their members towards the improvement of their sustainability practices.
Press release-Announcement of SUSTOUR final event
