One of the most severe upcoming issues faced by Europe’s economy is the planning, organisation and implementation of effective business succession. Companies find less and less qualified aspiring people to whom the management of the business can be passed over faithfully. Experience shows that the smaller the company, the bigger this problem is. This means, that the most affected are micro and family businesses, which in fact account for 60% of all European companies. The sector most hit by this problem is tourism, where 95% of companies employ fewer than 10 people. At the same time, the tourism industry is crucially relevant to our society, as it is the third largest economic activity and the sector continues to grow. However, there are almost no concepts available for how to support these companies in their business succession process, especially not in developing appropriate profiles for qualification and in selecting those aspirants who are best qualified for taking the business forward. Our project will contribute to developing solutions to the problem through the following three main activities: In order to overcome this situation, the project group has developed three main intellectual outputs: A) Implementation of a European survey to obtain a clear picture of the situation in Europe and to define which knowledge, skills and competence are generally valid in Europe for taking over businesses successfully. From the data received the partnership will develop a detailed description of knowledge, skills and competences referring to the requirements of the EQF. Results and outcomes of this work will be evaluated, analysed and published in a survey and competence description report. B) Based on these outcomes the BEST BOSS assessment procedure will be developed, tailor-made to the needs and demands of the main target group. For this, the partnership will define 10 to 15 assessment areas, against which potential business successors will be evaluated. The assessment procedure contains several assessment steps and applies different methods and (partly) online-based instruments (tool box). The assessment procedure and tool box will be piloted in four partner countries before all the instruments and a guideline of usage are published in all partner languages. C) Finally, we will publish the BEST BOSS policy paper, which will summarise experiences and outcomes from the project activities, and provide deductions for Europe’s labour market, HRD strategies as well as its regional, economic and ecological development. It will also introduce benchmarks to be reached within the next five years at the local, regional, national and European levels and provide a list of requests to political stakeholders and policy makers concerning what will be needed to improve the situation of successful company succession for smaller tourism enterprises. Through our project activities we aim to achieve direct and indirect impact both in the short term as well as in the long term: The European survey will provide, for the first time, an insight into the status quo of company succession within Europe’s smaller enterprises in the tourism industry and it will contain their demands and needs concerning this issue. Most of all, it provide a clear description of relevant knowhow, skills and competences which provide a reliable and valid basis for any future decisions and actions taken for improving the situation. The BEST BOSS assessment procedure and tool box will allow VET and HE providers to offer tailor-made support and guidance to micro and small enterprises for identifying and selecting their best possible company successor. One year after the projects has ended, 50 VET and HE providers should be offering this service to several thousand enterprises. The BEST BOSS policy paper will raise general awareness and give all political decision makers clear guidelines and recommendation of what needs to be done next to overcome the shortage of company successors in Europe’s largest sector of the tourism industry. All project activities are embedded in a wide range of evaluation and dissemination activities. The partnership contains eight organisations; four of them are VET or HE providers specialised in the fields of tourism and tourism management; one is an association of tourism service providers, one is a coordination office for company succession, one is chamber of commerce working for many years in the field of company succession and one is the largest European network for the dissemination of EU project results. They have all the skills, experience, and resources needed for implementing this project successfully. Representing DE, AT, BE, BG, SI, RO and the UK the partnership will ensure an appropriate European dimension as well as a fine split between larger and smaller countries with differently developed tourism sectors. They all have strong links with their local tourism sectors as well as to political decision makers.