14-16 March 2023
TIH – Tourism Innovation Hub powered by Bethlehem Business Incubator and Yunus Social Business Centre at Bethlehem University in partnership with UNESCO organized a 3 days Green Tourism hackathon for 33 participants (14 males & 19 females) that aimed to support and encourage youth entrepreneurs to develop green startups in the tourism sector.
The Green Tourism Hackathon was held at the Palestine Institute for Biodiversity and Sustainability (PIBS) and Bethlehem University campus. The participants had the opportunity to discover the beautiful location Palestine Natural History Museum and the PIBS garden which perfectly emphasized the motto of the hackathon “Think Green”.
During the hackathon, the participants had the opportunity to explore the topic of Green Tourism and discuss the challenges and opportunities in the sector through a Panel Discussion with the presence of Dr. Khouloud Daibes, former Minister of Tourism and the current Director of Bethlehem Development Foundation, Mr. Mohammad Abu Hammad, Projects Coordinator of the Cultural unit at UNESCO, Mrs. Ghaida Rahel, Project Manager at Palestine Heritage Trail, and Mr. Michel Awad, Head of Siraj Centre and the Board of Director of the Holy Land Association for Tourism.
The discussion and knowledge generated were helpful for the second and last day of the hackathon in which participants formed their ideas through Ideation sessions and then they worked on developing their own Business Model Canvas – BMC.
In the last day, all participants together with the shortlisted participants from the Capacity Building Pillar attended Pitching sessions and worked on their final presentations. All participants had the chance to pitch their ideas to a panel of judges.
3 Ideas from the Green Tourism Hackathon won the competition and 4 ideas from the Capacity Building Program have been selected and won the opportunity to receive the incubation services at the Tourism Innovation Hub.
The winners in the Green Tourism Hackathon:
1 – Taste of Palestine
2- Khayme Bedawiye Falestiniye
3- Azhar Al Qatf
The winners in the Capacity Building Program Pillar:
- Al Ruwisat
- Bundoq Chocolate
- Glory Inn
- Al Majarra
The Winners will be incubated in the next months to transform their ideas into active startups within the Tourism Innovation Hub.
Thanks to all the guest speakers and participants in the hackathon for the amazing experience shared during the 3 days of the Hackathon, and congratulations to the winning teams for their amazing ideas and hard work.
Tourism Innovation Hub – TIH is a project powered by Bethlehem Business Incubator – BBI and Yunus Social Business Centre – YSBC in partnership with UNESCO within the TVET4Future project, funded by ENABEL – Belgium development agency.
