DETOUR: Developing Resilient Tourism Ecosystems Along Mediterranean Routes

Terms of reference

External Evaluators – DETOUR Call for Financial Support for Tourism SMEs

1. Introduction 

This document establishes the terms and conditions for the appointment and participation of external experts invited to serve as evaluators in the Selection Committee for the DETOUR Call for Financial support (hereinafter referred to as the “Evaluator”).

By accepting the appointment, the Evaluator agrees to comply fully with the provisions outlined in this document, as well as with the evaluation procedures, ethical standards, and organisational guidelines established by the DETOUR consortium.

2. Project Description 

Tourism is one of the Mediterranean’s most dynamic sectors, yet tourism SMEs have been heavily affected by recent challenges such as the pandemic, climate pressures, rising costs, labour shortages, and rapid digital change. Building resilience and innovation has become essential. Travellers increasingly seek slow, authentic, nature-based experiences — making walking routes one of the most sustainable and future-oriented forms of tourism. They generate local economic impact while protecting natural and cultural landscapes.

DETOUR — Development of Resilient Tourism Ecosystems along Mediterranean Walking Routes — is a three-year project co-funded by the European Commission, with a total budget of €2 million and a duration of 36 months (1 November 2024 – 31 October 2027). The project aims to support tourism SMEs along Mediterranean walking routes in Italy, Greece, Türkiye, and Bulgaria. Through training, mentoring, financial support, and partner collaboration, DETOUR empowers SMEs to innovate, diversify their services, and extend the season. By connecting SMEs with trail managers, local authorities, and communities, the project builds stronger, more resilient tourism ecosystems along Mediterranean walking trails.

3. Composition of the Evaluation Committee

The evaluation of eligible proposals will be carried out by an Evaluation Committee composed of external experts.

For each participating country (Italy, Greece, Türkiye, Bulgaria), two independent evaluators will be appointed. Evaluators must be external to the DETOUR consortium organisations. They must not hold any contractual, advisory, or operational role within the DETOUR project.

The final appointment of the Evaluation Committee members will be confirmed only after the closure of the call for applications. This procedure allows the consortium to verify the identity of all applicants and ensure that the selected evaluators do not present any potential conflict of interest with the submitting organisations.

4. Profile of Evaluators 

Evaluators must be professionals with demonstrated expertise in fields relevant to the objectives of the DETOUR project, including sustainable tourism, walking routes and slow tourism, local economic and territorial development, SME development and innovation, cross-sector collaboration, evaluation of EU-funded or publicly funded projects.

They should also have knowledge of the national and regional context of the participating countries, including the tourism ecosystem, socio-economic characteristics of the territories and the specifics of the walking routes involved in the project.

5. Required documents 

Candidates interested in serving as evaluators for the DETOUR Selection Committee will be required to submit the following documents as part of the appointment process:

1. Curriculum Vitae (CV)
2. Declaration of Confidentiality and Conflict of Interest (template provided by the Consortium) – a signed declaration confirming that the evaluator will treat all application materials and evaluation discussions as strictly confidential and that they have no conflict of interest with any of the applicants whose proposals they will assess. Please click to download this file.

All documents and evaluation materials must be treated as strictly confidential and used solely for the purpose of the selection process within the DETOUR project.

6. Reporting and evaluation of projects procedure

Each evaluator will independently review and assess the applications assigned to them. For every application, the evaluator will record their individual assessment, scores, and comments using the official Evaluation Form provided by the DETOUR consortium.

Following the individual assessments, the two national evaluators will meet or communicate to compare their evaluations and agree on a common assessment for each application. This process will result in a single consensus evaluation form, reflecting the scores and opinions jointly agreed upon by both evaluators. The consensus form will be signed by both evaluators.

Based on the final agreed scores, the evaluators will prepare a ranked list of applications for each participating country. If the call includes different categories or components, evaluators may produce separate ranked lists accordingly.

The evaluation period of projects is scheduled from 1 June to 9 July 2026.

7. Evaluation timeline 

Deadline for submitting applications to become an evaluator: 15 May 2026.

The evaluation of candidates will take place in the period from 15 May to 5 June 2026.

The evaluators will be informed about the selection results on 5 June 2026.

8. Expression of Interest

Professionals interested in serving as external evaluators for the DETOUR Selection Committee are invited to express their interest by contacting the national partner responsible for the pilot area in their country:

• Bulgaria: trakiatourmanager@gmail.com
• Greece: info@medcenv.org
• Italy: detour.eu.project@gmail.com
• Turkiye: info@cultureroutesinturkey.com