airbnb: Community Tourism Programme

Overview

Types of projects:

• Placemaking: Creating, raising awareness and celebrating not-yet-trending destinations
• Innovation: Re-imagining tourism and travel by sparking entrepreneurship and strengthening local economies
• Festivals and events: Preserving or celebrating local festivals and events while introducing them to a broader, appreciative audience

To be eligible:

• Projects must be located in the member states of The Council of Europe.
• Partners must be non-profit agencies; charities; public-backed initiatives; research organisations or academic institutions; start-up accelerators; or community social groups
• Partners must complete all planning, licensing and registration, and other requirements appropriately in order to ensure that their projects can proceed according to local and national regulations that may apply.

Selection criteria:

Airbnb is all about creativity and they want to be surprised by the Letters of Interest and Applications they receive. They welcome any ideas that harness tourism in innovative ways to strengthen communities in both mature and emerging destinations. Projects should be locally and community driven and tap into Airbnb’s people-to-people model to drive more sustainable tourism. In addition, applicants will need to demonstrate:

• Organisational capacity and project viability
  • Eligible entity
  • Experienced and capable team with a demonstrated track record in their area of relevant expertise
  • Viable implementation plan and project management capacity
  • Matching funds and capacity to leverage other sources of support
  • Commitment to evaluating outcomes and contributing to broader research on building more inclusive tourism models for communities across Europe
  • Strong marketing and audience engagement strategy
  • Completed due diligence on tax registration, charity registration, details on senior officers, and controls on who has powers over the relevant financial accounts

• Community need and impact
  • Speak to the challenge of building stronger communities through tourism
  • Demonstrate a compelling opportunity and need
  • Demonstrate a specific plan of action on how to achieve an outcome that will positively support a community
  • Demonstrate achievable impact within 12 months

For more information about the Community Tourism Programme, please visit their FAQ.