Clio Muse Tours has been selected as one of the 25 winners from 18 countries at the UNWTO SDGs Global Startup Competition for its widespread ability to contribute to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The innovative Greek startup was selected out of 10,000 initial proposals from all regions across the globe achieving a great place in a list of innovative entrepreneurs. “The winners show the power of new ideas for transforming our sector”, said UNWTO Secretary-General Zurab Pololikashvili adding that “by embracing innovation, we can realize this potential and build a better future for people and planet through tourism. I congratulate them all and look forward to seeing these startups grow and deliver positive change.” Specifically, Clio Muse Tours was selected for generating the greatest impact in the “Decent work and economic growth” goal (SDG8). The reason why the company stood out among other similar solutions is mainly because of the company’s robust business model that promotes sustainable practices and also empowers professionals in the tourism and culture industries. “We have worked hard to develop a business plan that empowers professionals of the tourism and the culture sectors and at the same time promotes sustainable practices in tourism. We are confident that we can replicate our successful business model in any country and help professionals in tourism and culture grow through the unlimited availability of self-guided audio tours and their upselling potential,” says Andreas Fatouros, Clio Muse Tours’ CEO. The company creates and sells audio tours to travelers on its own e-shop and through the world’s online marketplaces and Online Travel Agencies. At the same time through its technological tools and platform Clio Muse assists professionals of the tourism and the cultural industries with B2B solutions to promote different aspects of our global cultural heritage to an international audience with low-cost customer acquisition strategies.

Andreas, Daphne and Yiannis, the founders of Clio Muse in 2014, shared a common concern: the world was missing a global platform that would connect the world’s cultural heritage, while being scalable and sustainable. Our initial ambition was to bring people back to the museums. Therefore, from the very beginning, we collaborated with Greece’s world-class museums to develop our methodology from the ground up, which was pivotal for the successful implementation of our idea but that’s what made our business model sustainable since its inception. Our aim was and still remains to create an exceptional travel experience. On the one hand to bring travellers to museums, on the other, to unravel the magical stories of off-the-beaten-path places and often connect the two. Crafting fascinating narratives that will captivate modern-day travellers and bring our cultural heritage to the foreground, seemed natural to us. We developed a unique storytelling methodology, which we use for the creation of each one of our self-guided audio tours and virtual tour experiences. It may took us two years to optimize it, but today, six years later, we are confident that this is what makes us stand out. With over 300 self-guided audio tours in 11 countries, we know that our methodology can be applied in every city around the world. Booking.com Cares Lab 2018 has awarded it as a solution for more sustainable tourism in the city of Amsterdam while our business model has been recognized by the Athens Chamber of Tradesmen for its efforts in “Sustainable, Innovative and Responsible Entrepreneurship.” We also empower local tourist guides, through our authoring tool, CREATE by providing the opportunity to share their knowledge with travel enthusiasts via self-guided audio tours. Featuring a tool that can connect and benefit people from different corners of the globe is to us a step closer to the global platform we are aspiring to create.