Invitation for Tourism Businesses to Participate in the UN Tourism Project – MINI-MAXI
The Faculty of Tourism Studies – Turistica, University of Primorska, together with the Centre of Business Excellence at the School of Economics and Business, University of Ljubljana, and the Faculty of Tourism, University of Maribor, is participating in the international project MINI-MAXI: Making Sustainability Competitive, conducted under the auspices of UN Tourism.
The project addresses a central question: how can small and medium-sized tourism enterprises (SMTEs) transform sustainability and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) principles into a real competitive advantage in practice?
The research team is currently inviting European SMTEs to participate in confidential, 80-minute, semi-structured interviews.
In recent years, numerous sustainability strategies, policies, and support mechanisms have been developed at both the European and national levels. Nevertheless, an important research gap remains: how effectively do these “top-down” frameworks work in practice, within companies that must implement sustainability in their day-to-day operations?
The project aims to understand how tourism SMEs progress on their sustainability and competitiveness journeys, and how they translate sustainability (ESG) into real, practical competitive advantages. You can share your insights by participating in a online survey or as interviewee. See details for how to take active role below.
Survey
The survey takes approximately 15 minutes to complete and is available HERE. Please submit your responses by 30 November 2025. All responses will be treated with strict confidentiality and will be used exclusively for aggregated analysis within the scope of this project.
Interviews
The interview lasts approximately 80 minutes and will be audio-recorded to ensure accuracy. All information will be handled with strict confidentiality, and your identity will remain fully anonymous in all analyses and project outputs. Please contact jana.vilman@um.si, janez.gorenc@um.si or marjetka.rangus@um.si to schedule an interview.
The project is carried out in three interconnected phases:
- Analysis of European and national strategic documents that shape the framework for sustainable tourism.
- Qualitative interviews with managers and owners of SMTEs across Europe – the current phase of the project.
- A quantitative survey on a large sample of European tourism enterprises, aimed at validating the findings and identifying broader trends.
The research team is currently inviting European SMTEs to participate in the confidential interviews mentioned above. The conversations are intended solely for research and academic purposes, and all data will be treated anonymously.
Participating companies will be among the first to receive the executive summary of the study, gain insight into the latest trends, challenges, and practices encountered by their peers across Europe, and help co-create data that will inform policy recommendations and support mechanisms for SMTEs.
The results of the project will make an important contribution to understanding how sustainability can become a genuine source of innovation and competitive advantage in the European tourism sector. The findings will also help shape more effective support programmes and policies for tourism enterprises.
For more information about the project or participation, please contact: marjetka.rangus@um.si.
