SETCOM | Sustainable Energies in Tourism dominated Communities
The European project SETCOM - Sustainable Energies in Tourism dominated Communities - with a total duration of 30 month started in October 2008 and involved 11 partners from 10 European countries working together under the leadership of the Potsdam Chamber of Commerce and Industry to reach the project goals and to foster the use of renewable energies in the tourism business. The project has been finalised on 31 March 2011.
The main outcome of SETCOM has been the development and the promotion of Sustainable Energy Tourism Communities in 10 European countries based on 10 Energy Action Plans serving as a roadmap with concrete targets showing how to reduce green house gas emissions and how to foster the use of renewable energies in the tourism industry. The detailed development of the energy action plans which can be seen as the heart of the project involved all relevant stakeholders.
The SETCOM project has been supported by the European Commission and received 75% co-financing from the Intelligent Energy Europe Programme – an Initiative promoting innovative projects particularly in the field of renewable energy, energy efficiency, traffic and transport.
Aims of SETCOM
Main objective of the SETCOM project has been to foster the development of sustainable energy in tourism in the 10 participating European countries: Greece, Spain, Italy, Slovenia, Latvia, Germany, France, Austria, Finland and Portugal.
The communities are committed to increasing renewable energy use and the use of renewable energy sources in the tourism business as one of their main economic sector. This has been a crucial step towards their goal of increasing their energy performance and their share of renewable energy sources beyond European Union targets.
SETCOM has the three following main targets:
- Raising awareness of substantial energy topics among tourism companies, local administration and tourists within the participating communities
- Setting up energy action plans for the participating communities, saying how to reach the strategic objective above
- Raising awareness for the topic ‘sustainable energy tourism’ Europe wide.
SETCOM partners in the project
The SETCOM team consisted of 11 partners from 10 different European countries that worked together closely and carried out the SETCOM activities. The Potsdam Chamber of Commerce and Industry as the lead partner coordinated the team and monitored the project progress whereas the work package leader were responsible for the smooth implementation and the achievements of a single work package (WP). The other partners followed the process carefully and tried to find strategies to implement the SETCOM activites best in their communities.
SETCOM target groups
Stakeholders from different target groups should have been addressed and sensitized by the SETCOM project in order to reach the project goals and to foster the use of renewable energies in the tourism industry.
These target groups could be divided in different action lin
- Economy: Tourism associations, Tourism companies (tour operators, hotels, restaurants, spas and baths, recreational facilities, transport companies and related sectors), ESCOs, Installers, Construction firms, farmers, agri-business, investors and developers, counsellors
- Administration: Decision makers in administration and politics, regional planning administration
- Population: Tourists, Employees of tourism industry, general public
General SETCOM Leaflet