New website offers collection of resources for Tourism, Enterprises and Sustainability
Sustainable tourism development… What does it mean, why is it important and how can enterprises increase their social, economic and environmental impact towards it? These are the three key questions that the newly launched website “TENS” (Tourism, Enterprises & Sustainability) provides answers to. TENS is an online platform that offers different kinds of resources to support and inform students, entrepreneurs, academics and teachers in sustainable entrepreneurship and development. This initiative is developed by the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) and the University of Groningen - Campus Fryslân in the framework of the Interreg project PROWAD Link.
“The amount of information on sustainability and tourism development can be quite overwhelming and even confusing at times”, says Else Ragni Yttredal, lead manager of the TENS project, NTNU. “Since PROWAD Link aims to support small and medium sized enterprises in contributing to sustainable development, TENS is meant as an easily accessible, open and free online space to find relevant knowledge and tools - also beyond the project’s timeframe, which ends with 2022.”
What kind of information can be found on the website?
There are various types of content available, such as webinars, academic articles, reports, short PDFs, websites and videos to give answers to the what, why and how questions of sustainability, which are
- Why improve sustainability performance as a small tourism enterprise?
- What is sustainable development, sustainability and a sustainable enterprise?
- How can enterprises improve social, economic and environmental performance?
Each section offers specific resources and questions to reflect on what you have learned and discuss with fellow students and colleagues.
For the readers with a specific issue or question that requires more information, all resources are categorized into subthemes, such as:
- Marketing → Being sustainable is one thing. Telling the outside world about it is another! Read and see more information on marketing and branding sustainable tourism products and stories. How to share your company’s efforts with guests?
- Business strategy → Find knowledge on product development, sustainable business development and sustainable entrepreneurship. How to develop a sustainable tourism company?
- Sustainability → Read more about the meanings, importance and implications of sustainability in protected areas. How can a tourism enterprise contribute?
- Protected areas → Protected areas are important for the preservation of nature and cultural heritage. How to run a business in such areas sustainably and responsibly?
- Best case examples → Need inspiration on how to run a sustainable enterprise? Find the best case examples here.
- Tips and tools → Get hands-on and practical tips and tools for running a sustainable business. Find checklists, fact sheets, guides and handbooks for easy implementation.
The website has now been officially launched on 7 June and is accessible for free at https://tenseducation.com