Anyone with a good idea is welcome at LIOF'.

Tourism entrepreneurs can bring in a substantial amount of money through LIOF's LimburgTourism program. An interesting financial scheme for alert entrepreneurs who are working on innovative concepts.

, "They don't even have to come here for it," says LIOF's Business Developer Tamara Weide. She sits in a consulting room of the regional development agency for Limburg in Maastricht. We actually go to the entrepreneur for a 'kitchen table discussion'. The advantage of that is that you see much more of the passion of this entrepreneur, who works in the recreation, hospitality, sports or culture sectors. It's all about the future of the company he's proud of. One thing is for sure: not innovating is staying behind."

, "Unfortunately, not all tourism companies know yet that we offer this financial support," Tamara continues. "It's also not really in the hospitality DNA to apply for funding. And then there are the current economic conditions that do not help to invest. Staff shortages, high energy bills and accumulated 'corona debts' put entrepreneurs off. Fortunately, the tourism and recreation sector is resilient and the smart entrepreneur thinks of tomorrow's tourist who expects innovation. I always say, 'call us first before you have a new idea and start incurring costs already'. It could just fall under our Innovation Project!"

The word 'innovative' scares some people," says the Business Developer, "but it's not about complicated inventions that don't exist yet. For us, 'innovative' means an idea that sets you apart from the competition, responds to smart, sustainable or healthy and with which you can make money. You don't have to look forward to the paperwork either. We will guide you through the application form in a personal meeting. All in all it takes one day of work but it is also worth a considerable amount of money (up to 25,000 euros) that does not have to be repaid."

It is a "three-step plan," explains Tamara Weide. ,,The first step is the review of your innovative idea. We are realistic and quickly tell you whether the idea has a chance of success. If not, we will refer you to an organization that can help you better. The next step is to fill out the application form. LIOF's supervision is such that we help entrepreneurs to complete the application as fully as possible: "They don't have to do it alone. You then implement your idea according to the Action Plan."

LIOF has already been able to honour a great many wonderful innovative projects in the past eighteen months," says Tamara. Many ideas revolve around digital solutions using, for example, Virtual Reality, smart apps and robotization to make things easier for tourism entrepreneurs and their customers. But sustainability and health themes also come into play. A company that rents out stays on the water has started a pilot with the use of e-foils (electrically powered surfboards, ed.), a sustainable form of water sports."

What is also striking is that the agricultural entrepreneurs are now developing plenty of innovative plans. A pear grower with residential recreation lost sales to Russia and the Ukraine. She called us and discussed the plan to have her trees adopted. With  funding from the Innovation Project, an app was developed that enables adopters to monitor 'their' pear tree. Just a few examples that show that LIOF rewards good innovative ideas in the tourism sector and thus makes the entrepreneur future-proof!"

The next 'submission dates' for a funding application are: July 21, September 29 and November 24. - liof.nl

 

Source: Chapeau Magazine