INSPIRE: Innovative Support for Promoting Refugee Entrepreneurship in Tourism

This project supports the needs of refugee led tourism entrepreneurs. We will identify good practice case studies, barriers to success case studies, and lessons applicable across the partner coun...

This project supports the needs of refugee led tourism entrepreneurs. We will identify good practice case studies, barriers to success case studies, and lessons applicable across the partner countries for the EU dealing with the refugee crises caused by the invasion of Ukraine and develop resources to support this population. We aim to support Ukrainian and other refugees with social integration and access to higher education through this innovative project.

The project will produce a detailed report conducted from primary and secondary fieldwork in Ireland, Belgium, Croatia, Türkiye, & Ukraine. We will create a good practice user guide for refugee tourism entrepreneurs. This will be supported by course materials, a website and mobile application. A final resource will be the publication of a searchable databank of supports for refugeee touism entrepreneurs, including education and training supports, finance options, networking and business supports

The project outcome will be 210 trained refugee tourism entrepreneurs, 300 downloads of our guide, 300 downloads of our mobile application and delivery of the project. We aim for a minimum of 1,000 hits on our website. The project will be disseminated across 5 international business networks. The key result will be that we train refugees in starting a tourism business, inspiring success. This will help with societal integration and provide legacy through training of NGOs and academic staff.