The SECreTour Network is growing!

The REMODEL project “Strengthening the Research Capacity of Turkey in Innovative Business Models for the Hospitality Sector” is a three-year HORIZON project funded by the European Union Research and Innovation programme under the call for HORIZON-WIDERA-2021-ACCESS-03-01. R

REMODEL aims to increase the research and innovation performance and management capacity of Bursa Uludag University in the use of new digital tools to prepare innovative business models for SMEs in the hospitality sector in Turkey through twinning with two leading Higher Education Partners – Universidad de Leon and Atlantic Technological University.

The development of innovative business models is a key topic for both REMODEL and SECreTour projects and further collaboration is envisaged to be carried out between the two initiatives.

Follow SECreTour online also on the SECreTour project’s website.

The SECreTour Network is growing!

West Pannon is a not for profit Limited company active in West Transdanubia Region in Hungary. Its goal is to promote a sustainable regional development, with involvment of local actors. It has been working on domestic, cross-border and transnational projects in Western Transdanubia since 2011.

West Pannon manages the supported partnerships using the knowledge and the experience gathered through mutual learning, and providing suitable answers to the challenges of the targeted territories.

The collaboration between SECreTour and West Pannon relies on the alignement between the appraoches adopted by two initiatives, with regard to sustanability and engagement of local communities.

Further information about Westpannon Regional and Economic Development Public Nonprofit Ltd. are available on its website: https://westpannon.hu/en

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The SECreTour project is glad to announce Beyond Borders, the workshop on cross-border collaborations and macro-regions for cultural tourism, hosted in Lugano by Università della Svizzera Italiana (USI).

The date of the 23rd of October 2025 will be articulated into two sessions: in the morning session, speakers from European and international organisations will set the scene; in the afternoon session a selected group of pilots from SECreTour and its network of common interest will present their good practices and lessons learnt. A debate will conclude the day, giving the possibility to the participants to address questions and comments to the speakers.

The participation in the workshop is free and it is foreseen to be in presence, but those who cannot come will be able to listen at the presentations online by streaming.

On the  24th, the participants in the workshop will have the opportunity to visit the site of the SECreTour pilot of Monte San Giorgio, on the border between Switzerland and Italy, rich of natural, archaeological, and many cultural evidences.

SAVE THE DATE, and see you soon in Lugano!

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The SECreTour Network is growing!

VERNE is a European project that aims to accelerate the shift of tourist destinations towards more sustainable and circular models.

By applying circular economy principles—such as waste reduction, energy efficiency, and ecosystem protection—VERNE promotes a new vision of tourism rooted in sustainability.

Through cross-sector collaboration in areas like mobility, food, construction, and waste management, the project fosters inclusive and environmentally responsible practices.

VERNE will test its solutions in five European destinations, validating scalable approaches such as waste reduction, digital tools, water treatment, and electric mobility.

The results will support new business models with measurable benefits for sustainability and competitiveness.

There are clearly several common goals between SECreTour and VERNE, which will be explored through a collaboration to be further exploited in the coming months.

If you want to know more about VERNE, the links to the social media channels follow:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/verne-project

Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/verneproject.bsky.social

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/verneprojecteu

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The SECreTour Network is growing!

The PHOENIX 4.0 project, Resilient Ecosystem for Empowering Tourism SMEs, joined the SECreTour Network of Common Interest.

The PHOENIX 4.0 project promotes resilience, sustainability and digital adaptation for European tourism SMEs, aligning with the EU’s Transition Pathway for Tourism. It aims to provide tailored guidance, capacity building, and resources, helping tourism businesses to adopt eco-friendly, digitally advanced and socially responsible practices.

Through initiatives such as the PHOENIX Academy and collaborative mentorship, the project will strengthen SME capabilities addressing climate change challenges and encouraging sustainable innovation.

By fostering a cohesive network of tourism professionals, PHOENIX 4.0 supports SMEs to navigate safely the evolving market demands, contributing to the development of a thriving and resilient tourism sector that can contribute to Europe’s broader economic and environmental goals.

The goals of Phoenix 4.0 and SECreTour have several elements in common and the participation in the SECreTour Network is expected to be beneficial to both initiatives.

Follow SECreTour online also on the SECreTour project’s website.

The SECreTour Network is growing!

The Province of Bergamo is a supra-local public body, located in northern Italy. Its territory has an area of 2,722.86 km² with more than 1 Million inhabitants and it includes 243 municipalities. As an intermediate body between the Region and the municipalities, the Province has fundamental and delegated functions and is responsible for several sectors including environment, land management, culture, tourism, sports, social policies, equal opportunities, territorial development, education and vocational training.

The Province coordinates the THRIVE project funded by Creative Europe Program.

THRIVE aims to enhance the appeal of rural areas by preserving and promoting endangered intangible cultural heritage. The project will create a territorial strategy to cultivate and retain talent in rural regions, fostering the empowerment and resilience of rural communities and bridging territorial imbalances, which are the cause of urban-rural divide.

The Province of Bergamo and its THRIVE project have a range of common aims with the SECreTour project, which will be at the basis of the envisaged future collaboration.

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A new interesting article is published by Laura James, Henrik Halkier and Heidi Vorre of Aalborg University, Denmark, the coordinator of CROCUS project, member of the SECreTour Network.

Constructive and destructive agency, regional path development and critical junctures: the case of cruise tourism in Nuuk, Greenland

The paper explores the role of human agency in regional path development looking at various types or domains of agency.

Innovative entrepreneurship, institutional entrepreneurship and place leadership may contribute to the development of new paths or to the renewal of old paths, and such path development may be destructive as well as constructive.

A framework is proposed to interprete these processes.

Path development goals according to stakeholders’ aims and type of agency

This framework is used to analyse the interplay between different types of agency through a study of cruise tourism in Nuuk, Greenland. The empirical analysis carried out by the researchers shows how a wide variety of stakeholders, including residents and non-governmental organisations, may try to influence tourism development path in different ways.

James, L., Halkier, H., & Vorre, H. (2025). Constructive and destructive agency, regional path development and critical junctures: the case of cruise tourism in Nuuk, Greenland. Regional Studies, 59(1). https://doi.org/10.1080/00343404.2025.2461755

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