Full name of the EU funded project	EURO-EMOTUR: The journey towards digitalisation. Thinking digital tourism through neuromarketing and emotions
Project acronym	EURO-EMOTUR
Grant agreement number	101038111
Topic	COS-TOURINN-2020-3-04 – Innovation uptake and digitalisation in the tourism sector
Expected duration of participation	15 Months
Total funding available	€450.000
Max. granted amount per SME	€10.000
Call Open Date	27/06/2023
Call Deadline Extended	16/10/2023
Deadline model	Single-stage
Purpose	Support 100 European tourist SMEs

Fundamentally, neuromarketing refers to the use of neuroscience in marketing.  Using methods such as eye-tracking, EEG (Electroencephalography) and Artificial Intelligence (AI), this approach can help discover consumer motivation and preferences, allowing businesses to adapt and maximize their digital space.

Successful SMEs will receive an audit of their online space and expert consultancy on how to improve their presentation to clients.

This Call seeks applications by eligible European Tourism SMEs to be recipients of financial support via a system of vouchers – benefitting from analysis, support and mentoring, provided to improve consumer digital experience by applying neuromarketing methodologies.   The maximum amount of financial support for each Third-Party Beneficiary awarded via vouchers is €10.000, the average award is likely to be awarded €3.000-€5.000 in vouchers.

Programme process:

Application -> Assessment -> Review & Awarding -> Active Receipt of Programme Benefits

Euro-emotur is an international European Consortium integrating partners from Italy, Belgium, UK, Finland and Spain. See the updated list of partners here.

Participation for SMEs is free of charge, no co-financing is required.

 Successful SMEs will benefit from the variety of the following opportunities:

• Detailed audit of digital assets (website, videos, pictures, social media, etc.) via applying neuromarketing techniques including eye tracking, face coding, EEG and Physiographic analysis.
• Evaluation of the emotional response from the consumers/tourists, measuring the digital performance.
• Provision of a customized report containing current digital performance, guidelines and recommendations for the future, matching their needs with potential digital solutions and providers.
• Access to education and training content targeted to tourism professionals from SMEs in order to increase their capacities.

After the detailed audit and report, SMEs will be able to use the vouchers for services and training in the field of digital and innovation market solutions such as:

• Virtual Reality
• Increased Reality
• Eye-tracking
• Face Coding
• EEG (Electroencephalography)
• Digital Reputation
• Artificial Intelligence
• Web usability
• Content analysis: text, video and pictures
• Benchmarking analyses and indexes

Eligible activities from the COSME PROGRAMME

–     Support for travel, registration, and accommodation costs to attend courses.

–        Access to matchmaking events to create the digital tourism hub, fostering cross-sectorial and transnational cooperation: this will enable knowledge and tech transfer

• Participation fees for digital-oriented events at EU level
• Coaching and mentoring sessions for a feasibility study and ad-hoc recommendations
• Payment for required suitable software licenses up to the end of the duration of the project and services to access new technology solutions previously recommended in the assessment. Investments in any physical infrastructure (backup generators, connectivity -cabling-, hardware are not eligible.

– Attend online and offline trainings, workshops, study visits, awareness raising activities;

– Developing of digital solutions, platforms for knowledge and expertise sharing, and local community involvement;

– Creation of new digital content according to the recommendations and suggestions provided

– Other activities proposed by the Consortium in line with the objectives of the call

In order to select the service providers, and in parallel with this Call, Euro-emotur will launch an open Call for Expressions of Interest for Service Providers under which mentors, experts, consultants and technology/ innovation providers for digitalisation, innovation and digital solutions can present their candidatures to provide their services to SMEs. After the evaluation process, awarded SMEs will be given access to the pool of service providers to find the most appropriate one(s) to support their project implementation. This list of providers will be available on the project website (https://euroemotur.eu/).

As part of the application process, SMEs can alternatively also propose a different, appropriate service provider themselves should they so wish, as long as the service provider is based in one of the eligible countries. The Evaluation Committee however reserves the right to refuse such a request concerning collaboration with a specific service provider, in which case the SME, if selected, would be invited to propose a different service provider, or choose from the above-mentioned list.

While some businesses have become frontrunners in using data for tourism development, others struggle with setting foot on this path. In order to drive new investment in the digitization of the tourism industry and support the creation of better framework conditions, a digital industrial revolution is necessary.

Euro-emotur will help the beneficiary SMEs to have a broader understanding and application of digital tools available whose application can lead making the tourism SMEs more profitable and competitive.

The final result of the project will help SMEs to, for example, better design the customer experience, design their product and services and increase the efficiency of their communication and promotional activities.

The programme is strictly limited to tourism SMEs in the following categories:

• Travel agency, tour operator reservation service and related activities (N79).
• Hotels and similar accommodation (I5510)1;
• Holiday and other short-stay accommodation (I5520);
• Camping grounds, recreational vehicle parks and trailer parks (I5530);

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are defined as follows. 

Company category	Staff headcount	Turnover	or		Balance sheet total
Medium-sized	< 250	≤ € 50 m			≤ € 43 m
Small	< 50	≤ € 10 m			≤ € 10 m
Micro	< 10	≤ € 2 m			≤ € 2 m

 

SME thresholds apply to candidate entities that may form part of a larger business group. In that case the total staff headcount/turnover/balance sheet information would apply to the qualification criteria and should be submitted at point of application.

Natural persons are not eligible.

Only applications from legal entities duly established in the following countries are eligible:

• EU Member States;
• countries participating in the COSME programme

Exclusionary Criteria 

• SMEs cannot qualify for this Call if they are already in receipt of support from any other active COS-TOURINN Call nor if they would through participation exceed the maximum state aid limits.
• Non-SME candidates and natural persons.
• SMEs from non-eligible countries.

1. All applicants who would like to participate to the Call to action are requested to apply here: www.etoa.org/projects/emotur by completing the application form; an “Acknowledgment of Receipt” email will be sent to the applicant. It is important that all information provided in the form is correct and complete. Furthermore, note that your project will be evaluated only on the information provided in the online application form. It is therefore of utmost importance that you include all relevant information concerning your project there, do not take any information for granted or provide links to external sources with information essential to understand your project.

We recommend you fill your application in English language. Applications may also be submitted in Spanish, Finnish or Italian, the languages of the project`s three regional clusters. The programme is aware that applications are submitted by non-native English speakers wherefore they are not evaluated based on the use of language but on the provided content. Please be clear and precise in the explanations you provide in your project proposal.

2. The Call for applications will be open from 27/06/2023 to the 27/09/2023 at 17:00 (Brussels Time), thereafter the submission platform will be closed. It is strongly recommended not to wait until the last minute to submit the application. Note that failure to submit it on time for any reason, including network communication delays or working from multiple browsers or multiple browser windows, is not acceptable as an extenuating circumstance. A “Call Closed” email will be sent to all applicants.

3. Further information about applications: Questions may be sent by e-mail no later than 7 days before the deadline for the submission of applications to the following e-mail address projects@etoa.org, indicating clearly the reference of the Call for Participation and the question. The Euro-emotur Project Consortium has no obligation to provide a response to questions received after this date. Replies will be given no later than 5 working days before the deadline for the submission of applications.

4. The applicants are also encouraged to visit the FAQ tab below for further info.

23/06/2023	Call announcement
23/06/2023	Call promotion
27/06/2023	Open call – full details and launch
16/10/2023	Call Deadline EXTENDED
18/10/2023	Call evaluation
09/11/2023	Awarding

Participation for SMEs is free of charge, and no co-financing is required.

SMEs commitment throughout the project’s lifespan, the applicants shall comply with the following requirements:

• Beneficiaries will be required to sign a Third-Party Beneficiary Agreement.
• Each beneficiary will implement its proposed action plan as selected from the list of proposed services.
• Beneficiaries will not transfer or assign directly or indirectly any portion of the support to other ends not included in the initial application.
• Awarded SMEs will implement their action plan in accordance with the rules and requirements of the call and in accordance with the contract.
• Beneficiaries will designate a person to lead the communication between the applicant and the Euro-emotur consortium throughout the duration of the action plan. In addition, a pilot project coordinator will be responsible (per project partner) for the management of the action plan and replying to any request for information within the scope of the contract.
• Awarded SMEs will supply any information requested by the Euro-emotur consortium partners for the purpose of ensuring that these requirements are complied with any written request or direction received from the European Commission concerning the proper management of the action plan.
• Beneficiaries will not be entitled to require further support for the mere reason that they disagree with the results of the support by the Euro-emotur consortium partners.
• Beneficiaries will comply with dissemination and communication requirements relating to the Open Call published together with the application documentation of the Euro-emotur call.
• Beneficiaries will comply with formal justification of the funded expenses, providing legal invoices and required evidences related to the use of the awarding funding.

Two representatives from each of ETOA, CISET, ULPGC and Haaga-Helia partners with experience in tourism and digitalisation will evaluate the candidates who have fulfilled the administrative criteria together with the independent Advisory Board[1] that will have an advising role in the decisions related to successful recruitment and qualifications of 100 tourism-related SMEs to be awarded financial support from the programme. The Advisory Board will sign a “confidentiality and conflict of interest declaration” to ensure a transparent process. Throughout these actions, applicants and successful candidates will be informed as to the status of their candidature. Rules for selection will be based on the following criteria:

Evaluation criteria of applications.

The evaluation process of the applications to the present Call for Participation, which will take no longer than 6 weeks after the Call is closed, is summarised as the following steps:

1. There will be an administrative review of applications and request of added documentation, if needed, completed by ETOA and overseen by the Consortium. The “Eligibility criteria” will be applied to discard non-eligible proposals. Proposals being marked as non-eligible will get a rejection letter for being catalogued as non-eligible. No further feedback on the process will be given for the non- selected one.

• Applicants will be excluded in line with Exclusionary Criteria (see “Who can apply?”).
• Applicants must belong to one of the eligible categories of tourism industries (see “Who can apply?”).
• Applicants must be an SME (see “Who can apply?”).
• Natural persons are not eligible.
• Only applications from legal entities duly established in the following countries are eligible:
  • EU Member States.
  • Countries participating in the COSME Programme pursuant to Article 6 of the COSME Regulation.

2. Two representatives from each of ETOA, CISET, ULPGC and Haaga-Helia partners with experience in tourism and digitalisation will evaluate the candidates who have fulfilled the administrative criteria.  Eligible applications will be ranked in a list from the highest scored application to the lowest. The full scoring criteria are available below. Based on the details submitted in the application form and an assessment of the websites and content provided, the proposals will be ranked. The Advisory Board will have the role of advising if there is no consensus on the evaluation.

Evaluation categories	Available scores	Examples of low and high scores	Score levels
Use digital channels How to use channels	0-5	Offer basic business information -> Live communication channels	0 | Proposal fails to address the criterion under examination or cannot be judged due to incomplete information 1 | The criterion is addressed in an inadequate manner, or there are serious inherent weaknesses 2 | While the proposal broadly addresses the criterion, there are significant weaknesses 3 | The proposal addresses the criterion well, although improvements would be necessary 4 | The proposal addresses the criterion very well, although certain improvements are still possible 5 | The proposal successfully addresses all relevant aspects of the criterion in question. Any shortcomings are minor.   Yes / No – Does use / Doesn’t use
Type of content	0-5	Images and videos -> existing application of Neuromarketing techniques
Relationship with customers through digital channels	0-5	Collect and analyse data on the general characteristics of customers -> Involve customers in the design of products and/or services
Sale through digital channels	0-5	Catalogue of products and/or services -> End-to-end booking and status tracking
Communication and collaboration tools	0-5	Email contact provided -> Video and file sharing communication with clients
Personnel	0-5	No dedicated staff responsible for digitizing the business -> fully staffed online team
Training	0-5	No training on digital issues -> Established and regular digital training scheme
Digital tools for management	Yes/No	Use of Customer Relationship Management tools (CRM)
Web Analytics Tools	Yes/No	Use Google Analytics or some other web analytics tools
Potential reach and sustainability of the project´s impact	0-5	SME is an inactive member of a business association -> SME is already in active cooperation on online cross-selling and cooperation

 

3. The consortium partners will meet to validate the results and agree on the final list of selected applicants and a reserve list.

Ranking criteria and selection process of the applications

The criteria for the ranking of the applications will follow the rules below:

Award criterion

Rule 1: the proposals will be ranked based on their overall score, based on criteria 1, 2 and 3 of the Evaluation Report.

Rule 2: In case following rule 1 there are proposals in the same position (identical score), selections will be made based on the segmental and geographical spread of possible beneficiaries as required by the programme.

Using the scores given on the consensus form, the consortium will select the highest scored application/s for the call.

4. At least 100 applicants will be selected, and around 20 additional applicants will remain in a reserve list, following the score ranking resulting from the evaluation phase. In the event of selection of a lower number of applications and total amount of funding available, the Consortium may reopen the Call . Once the evaluation process is completed, all applicants will receive a notification by email about the results.

The selected applicants will be informed via e-mail about the evaluation results even in case of acceptance or rejection together with an Evaluation Summary Report (ESR).

Only the following cases are possible:

• • NO SELECTION. The notification will be sent together with an ESR.
  • NO SELECTION (IN RESERVE LIST). The notification that the applicant has not been selected, but is in the reserve list, will be sent together with an ESR.
  • SELECTION. The notification will be sent to selected applicant along with the ESR and further instructions about the next steps in the process.

A letter of acceptance shall be signed by the selected applicant within 7 days after receiving the notification, otherwise the applicant’s interest in participating in the Programme will be considered withdrawn and its spot will be offered to the next ranked applicant from the reserve list.

[1] The role of the AB in this project is: a consultative body to provide guidelines and suggestions on the evaluation process to help to select the awarded SMEs (third parties) and the distribution of the final financial support-voucher; general recommendations for improvements; suggestions related to tools and techniques to be used, and adaptations needed.

Allocation of vouchers will follow a 3-step process, tiered in line with progress through the project and active engagement by beneficiary SMEs. First, your SME will receive an advancement of 50% of the total vouchers value; second, the consortium will conduct a verification of results of the programme implementation and use of the voucher, based on a what it is expected from SMEs participation. This will include verification of suitable services; the technical assessment includes proof of involvement and participation, and third; the SME will be refunded for their justified expenses, up to the voucher value. The same process will apply for the remaining part (up to the other 50% of the voucher).

The maximum amount of financial support for each Third-Party Beneficiary awarded via voucher is €10.000, and therefore, the financial support your SME might be less if incurred costs at the end of the programme are below these caps. the average award is likely to be awarded €3.000-€5.000 in vouchers.

The overall indicative amount available under this call for proposals is EUR €450,000. Euro-emotur partner organisations reserve the right not to award all available funds.

• Your active participation in the programme’s activities.
• Allow us to access and use such data, and publicly disseminate the results.
• Allow us to access and use such data, and publicly disseminate the results.
• Provide us with basic information of your company such as logo, description and contact information to publicly disseminate in our website and thus facilitate potential matchmaking between your company, other tourism service providers, certifying organisations, sustainable solution experts, etc.
• Keep and send invoices and payment statements of the costs you incur in during our programme according to the eligible costs.
• Give visibility to the Euro-emotur project and of EU funding while participating in the programme. We will provide you with a standard sticker showcasing the project’s logo and EU emblem and disclaimer to be visibly placed in your establishment (window, counter, etc.). Indications for dissemination on social media will also be provided (hashtags, keywords, etc.)

All the information submitted by the applicants will be handled only by the Euro-emotur project team involved in the Open Call. The identity of the sender and the content of the proposal will be treated strictly confidential by the Evaluation Committee, who will perform the work impartially applying the highest ethical and moral standards.

The application will be stored on a web-based, password-protected collaborative platform to which only the Euro-emotur members will have access. Data with regard to the proposal may also be exchanged between the Euro-emotur Evaluation Committee by way of corporate e-mail.

Confidential information disclosed by the applicant must be marked as confidential. The applicant shall disclose to the Euro-emotur consortium confidential information, in its sole discretion, if the applicant deems necessary or desirable for the purpose of assessing the application. The Euro-emotur consortium will strictly apply confidentiality rules -as laid down in its consortium agreement- and will not use confidential information of applicants for any purpose other than to meet the objectives of this Open Call.

The selected enterprises – throughout the duration of their involvement with Euro-emotur – will take appropriate measures to engage with the public about such involvement and to highlight the financial support of the EC.

Listed below are questions submitted by SME applicants – to submit a new question please contact projects@etoa.org.

1. We participated TOURBAN project and SmarterAoE project. Are we allowed to apply? No – SMEs cannot qualify for this Call if they are already in receipt of support from any other active COS-TOURINN Call. 
2. Our business aligns with NACE code 79.9, are we eligible? Yes, all businesses covered by code 79 are eligible:

• • N79.1 – Travel agency and tour operator activities
  • N79.1.1 – Travel agency activities
  • N79.1.2 – Tour operator activities
  • N79.9 – Other reservation service and related activities
  • N79.9.0 – Other reservation service and related activities

Arran Wiltshire | EURO-EMOTUR, Expert on SMEs selection and call projects@etoa.org