LookUp Project
LookUP is an European project that will help rediscover the value of our skies by supporting businesses in the tourism sector, particularly those based on astronomy and birdwatching.
The LookUP project aims to increase support to tourism activities based on birdwatching, astronomy and sky observation in rural areas, improving skills and capacity, the adoption of innovations and the management and exchange of data, for greater resilience and deepening of the green and digital transitions in these areas. In other words, to offer tourism initiatives in Extremadura a support package, financed with European funds, that will favour the necessary and urgent triple transition promoted by the European Union: *sustainability, digitalisation and resilience.
The project should contribute, thanks to the financial contribution of the European Union, to the empowerment of rural communities, the popularisation of science and the preservation of cultural, environmental, historical, ethnographic and ethnographic heritage and biodiversity for sustainable development in Europe.
LookUp takes place in three European regions where the rural environment occupies a large part of the territory: Extremadura (ESP), Kuusamo (Finland) and Sibiu County in Transylvania (Romania). These regions have a huge potential for ecotourism activities, and it aims to equip tourism SMEs operating in these three European regions with improved skills and capacities, innovation capture and data management, and exchange to achieve this triple transition*.
´Extremadura, buenas noches´ is a nationally and internationally recognised and positioned strategy, so being selected for the European Union's LookUp project will provide our tourism businesses with digital skills and capabilities that will further improve our situation, benefiting both those businesses and all citizens who enjoy watching our starry skies and birdwatching.
LOOK UP, summary
MORE COMPETITIVENESS
and sustainable tourism
The LookUP project supports the competitiveness and sustainability of tourism SMEs in sparsely populated rural areas through targeted training, financial support and opportunities for international networking and cooperation with stakeholders in the tourism ecosystem.
SUPPORT FOR SMEs
more training, more opportunities...
LookUP provides training and financial support to tourism SMEs offering services, products and experiences in astro-tourism, ornithological tourism and other nature, rural and ecotourism tourism through: workshops, training in digitisation, sustainable management and certification, direct financial support, networking...
SUSTAINABLE TOURISM
the sky as starting point
The LookUP project promotes a model of sustainable tourism based on the sky as a starting point and destination, where tourists are responsible and interact in a balanced way with communities in the cultural, social and environmental dimensions. The sky as a transforming and structuring element of tourism.
WE WILL BE HOLDING AN INFORMATIVE ONLINE SEMINAR WHERE WE WILL INFORM YOU AND ANSWER ALL YOUR QUESTIONS OR DOUBTS ABOUT THE LOOK UP PROJECT. REGISTER HERE
MAIN OBJECTIVES OF LOOKUP PROJECT
Tourism SMEs in Extremadura, Kuusamo (Finland) and Sibiu (Transylvania-Romania) will receive direct support for the development of activities to multiply their capacities.
- Identify relevant digital innovations and technologies to support the triple transition and disseminate knowledge.
- Accompany and support tourism SMEs in the triple transition, connecting them also to Enterprise Europe Network (EEN), European Digital Innovation Hubs (EDIHs), European certification schemes and tools, while financially supporting their transformation process through the Sustainable Business Transformation Programme.
- Actively involve SMEs in innovation processes to foster cross-border collaboration.
- Design and support the adoption of a sustainability monitoring framework among tourism SMEs.
- Support the integrity and meaningful development of rural areas using the sky as a destination, in a sustainable way, as well as of their inhabitants, businesses and other stakeholders in the territory, by providing transferable tools and strategies for destination managers and tourism SMEs.