Thursday, 15 January 2026. — The Centre of Business Excellence (CBE) together with Arctur d.o.o. have launched a call for Slovenian tourism SMEs within the framework of the European PHOENIX 4.0 project. The aim is to support innovation projects focused on sustainability, digitalisation, and competitiveness in the sector.
PHOENIX 4.0, co-financed by the European Union through the Single Market Programme (SMP–COSME), brings together a European consortium with partners from Spain, France, Slovenia, Croatia, Iceland, and Kosovo. Slovenia participates through the CBE and Arctur, which are responsible for supporting tourism SMEs in the region.
The call targets tourism SMEs wishing to develop collaborative projects with other organisations in the tourism sector or in other areas such as digital technologies, culture, creative industries, or agri-food. Selected projects will receive €25,000 in funding, with an implementation period of nine months, from July 2026 to March 2027. The number of Slovenian beneficiaries will be determined once the evaluation process is complete.
Applications must be submitted until 18 March 2026 via the project website. Participating SMEs will be required to publicly present their proposals during a National Demo Day, which will be held virtually.
The project offers Slovenian SMEs the opportunity to access European funding, test new sustainability-related solutions, explore new business models, and establish collaborations with actors from other countries and sectors.
An online Info session will be held on 27 January at 10:00 to answer questions and guide interested companies. Full documentation, rules, and the application form are available at: www.phoenix4tourism.eu.
About PHOENIX 4.0
PHOENIX 4.0 is a European project co-financed by the European Union’s Single Market Programme (SMP–COSME), aiming to strengthen the competitiveness, sustainability, and resilience of the tourism sector through support for SMEs and the promotion of cross-sector collaboration.
The PHOENIX 4.0 consortium includes the following organisations: ARCTUR (Slovenia, coordinator), AnySolution S.L. (Spain), Catalan Tourist Board (Spain), Centre of Business Excellence (Slovenia), Dubrovnik Development Agency (Croatia), Iceland Tourism Cluster (Iceland), Open Tourisme Lab (France), and Prishtina REA (Kosovo). These organisations work together to promote innovation and sustainability in tourism SMEs at both local and European levels.
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