Key Milestones: The Essential Stages of the VERNE Journey
Transforming European tourism from a resource-depleting activity into a circular, sustainable system doesn’t happen overnight. The VERNE project follows a carefully planned three-year roadmap with critical checkpoints. Here’s a look at the essential milestones marking our path toward circular tourism across the continent.
Setting the Foundation
Our adventure begins with establishing a solid knowledge base. During these initial months, VERNE will complete a comprehensive analysis of existing methodologies and best practices for assessing circularity in tourism. This foundation ensures everything that follows is built on evidence rather than assumptions.
The early phase has already achieved two major milestones: the successful launch of the VERNE project website, providing stakeholders with access to project resources and updates, and the completion of the first major online workshop. This workshop brought together experts and stakeholders from across Europe to analyze strengths and weaknesses of current sustainability strategies in tourism, establishing a strong foundation for the project’s development.
Building the Community
Lasting change requires robust collaborative networks. VERNE will establish five Communities of Practice (CoPs) across the pilot destinations: Bornholm (Denmark), Sønderjylland-Schleswig (Denmark-Germany), Santorini (Greece), Uusimaa (Finland), and Pomurje (Slovenia).
These CoPs will focus on action rather than discussion, creating networks of local businesses, authorities, and residents committed to co-creating circular solutions tailored to their unique contexts.
The shift from concept to implementation marks a critical turning point. Month 18 will see the completion of detailed commissioning plans for each pilot, including technical specifications, timelines, and resource requirements.
This milestone will also deliver our Solutions Catalogue: a comprehensive toolbox of over 30 circular interventions for tourism destinations, each with practical implementation guidelines and expected impacts.
Technology serves as a crucial enabler for circular economies. The first deployment of the VERNE Ecosystem at month 24 represents a significant achievement: an integrated digital platform connecting stakeholders and facilitating resource sharing across destinations.
During this period, we will also conduct the first monitoring cycle of our business models, testing how well our circular approaches perform under real-world conditions.
Measuring and Learning
Concrete evidence drives wider adoption. During the project’s later stages, VERNE will apply its Key Performance Indicator (KPI) framework and conduct Cost-Benefit Analysis (CBA) and economic impact assessment (EIA) methodologies across all pilot destinations, gathering comprehensive data on environmental, social, and economic impacts.
These measurements will provide the foundation for refining our approaches and creating credible guidelines for other destinations.
The final months focus on ensuring VERNE’s impact continues beyond the project timeframe. The launch of our One-Stop-Shop for Sustainable Tourism will create a permanent resource hub for destinations across Europe.
By project completion, VERNE will deliver comprehensive sustainability plans for each pilot, final exploitation strategies, and policy recommendations that can drive circular tourism at local, national, and European levels.
A Roadmap to Transformation
These carefully sequenced milestones form the backbone of VERNE’s ambitious journey. As each checkpoint is reached, European tourism moves one step closer to becoming an environmental asset rather than a liability. We invite you to follow our progress on LinkedIn as this transformation unfolds.