Access to financing is vital to promote entrepreneurship and SME development and build an innovative, competitive and sustainable tourism sector. This report examines mechanisms to improve access to finance for tourism SMEs and entrepreneurs at each stage of the business lifecycle, with a particular emphasis on small and micro-enterprises. It discusses key issues and policy considerations to help improve tourism SME financing conditions, broaden the range of financing instruments available and support uptake of available financing instruments. Case studies of financing approaches in a number of countries support the policy discussion and provide technical information. The paper captures the perspectives of policy makers, financing agencies and institutions, and the tourism industry, and has benefitted from significant contributions and inputs from 21 countries: Austria, Canada, Chile, Croatia, Denmark, Egypt, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Japan, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, the Philippines, Portugal, the Russian Federation, Slovenia, Sweden and Switzerland.
