The project aims to improve competences and skills in the rural tourism sector, in particular for the hospitality and services industry, by developing the contents related to Experiential tourism approach. Experiential tourism is the current tourism trend that is well recognized at the level of touristic services, tour operator or incoming agancies while is not well exploited by the hospitality sector.In order to achieve its goals the project will develop a training path and related tools aiming to equip tourist professionals with the right skills to implement an experiential approach and highly customized marketing skills and competences.Experiential tourism has become the current term that encompasses a variety of tourism and travelers categories, including the following: cultural tourism, ecotourism, educational travel, experimental tourism, heritage tourism and nature tourism, where activities are environmentally sensitive, displaying respect for the culture of the host area and looking to experience and learn rather than merely stand back and gaze. Experiential tourism encompasses active participation, involvement, even immersion. Is especially the sense of participation that attract tourist and builds loyalty in contemporary tourism market. This is also demonstrate by the proliferation of sharing economy tourism services worldwide that have the peculiarity to let tourists “feel the real experience”.Therefore the project, to achieve its main result, will produce the following outcomes:- A common baseline report thus to analyze deeply the results of the needs analysis carried out by partner at application stage, re-organize data and gather all the information necessary to structure the training outline.- A field investigation and a first contact with target group (direct and indirect) through the collection of a survey aiming to understand their competences and skills needs and gaps- A training path structured on the results of the research run at application stage, improved in the first part of project activities and highlighted by partners shared experiences.- Develop standard learning outcomes following ECVET principles, guided by the standard procedure - Realize modules open and with free access translated in the partnership languages.- Realize educational games/tutorials that can facilitate and guide self-learning.The results will be achieved through main three outputs:O1: EXPERIENTIAL TOURISM STRATEGIES: A GUIDE FOR RURAL TOURISM PROFESSIONALSO2: EXPERTOUR LEARNING ENVIRONMENTO3: EXPERTOUR LOCAL NETWORKSThe project idea has been raised from the shared experiences of project partners and the analysis of recent tourism market trends. Some of the partners already have collaborated in different actions either in rural tourism field or in vocational education. Other partners are new to the programme, thus to allow a good share of experiences and practices for the enhancement of all the organizations involved.The action that the project wants to implement embrace: innovative skills inspired by experiential tourism approach, strong capabilities in services customization and entrepreneurial attitude.Therefore the organizations involved in the project represents these areas of interest and will bring knowledge and expertices to the overall development of the project activities in different ways. The organization are an important representation of the different geographical characteristics in Europe: North, Central, South and East Europe which have experiences in different tourism trends and flows but share the common denominator of being placed in territories considered "rural". Thanks to this variety of representation the model funded will encompass the results of different traditions and expertise at EU level and demands of a variety of tourism markets. The model in this way will be easily adaptable to other contexts and accessible in a number of ways:- ECVET tools will allow recognition of learning outcomes in all EU MS- The contents will be aligned with European policy and quality standards in terms of sustainability and energy management- The model will be tested in different EU countries taking into account the feedback and reviews of users - The contents and educational tools will be online, available and translated into all partnership languages therefore will be accessible in many ways and to many people.
The project had the aim to improve skills and competences in the rural tourism sector, especially for the hospitality industry and services, by developing the contents related to the experimental tourism approach. Experimental tourism is the current trend in tourism, which is recognized by tourism services, tourism operators or entry agencies, while it is not well exploited by the hospitality industry. In order to achieve its objectives, the project develops a training path and associated tools aimed at equipping tourism professionals with the skills needed to implement an experimental approach and very personalized marketing skills and skills. Experimental tourism has become the current term that includes a variety of tourism and travel categories, including: cultural tourism, ecotourism, educational trips, experimental tourism, cultural tourism and natural tourism where activities are environmentally friendly, respecting culture in the host area and trying to experiment and learn, back and look. Experimental tourism includes active participation, involvement, and even immersion. It is, in particular, a sense of participation that attracts tourists and builds loyalty on the contemporary tourism market. This is also evidenced by the proliferation of tourism services in the sharing economy around the world, which have the particularity of allowing tourists to "experience the real experience". The results were achieved through two main outcomes: O1: EXPERIENCIAL TOURISM STRATEGIES: GUIDE TO RURAL TOURISM PROFESSIONALS O2: THE ENVIRONMENTAL EXPERT The idea of the project was raised from the shared experiences of the project partners and the analysis of the recent trends of the tourist market. Some of the partners have already collaborated in various actions, either in the field of rural tourism or in the field of vocational education. Other partners are new to the program, so much of the experiences and practices to consolidate all organizations involved. The action the project wanted to implement: Innovative skills inspired by the experimental tourism approach, powerful capabilities in customizing services and entrepreneurial attitude. Therefore, the organizations involved in the project represent these areas of interest and have brought knowledge and expertise to the general development of project activities in different ways. The organization is an important representation of the different geographical features in Europe: North, Central, South and Eastern Europe, which have experiences in different trends and tourist flows but share the common denominator of being placed in territories considered "rural". Due to this variety of representation, the funded model included the results of different traditions and expertise at EU level and the requirements of a variety of tourist markets. The model is easily adaptable to other contexts and is accessible in several ways: - ECVET tools allows recognition of learning outcomes across all EU Member States; - The content is aligned with European policy and quality standards in terms of sustainability and energy management - the model was tested in different EU countries, taking into account feedback and user reviews - educational content and tools are available online, available and translated in all languages of partnership, therefore, are accessible in many ways and for many people. The main outcome of the project is the definition of the vocational training model by applying the practices of experimental tourism and approaching the hotels in the rural tourism environment, which leads to the improvement of their skills and aptitudes and to defining the service strategy towards a more consumer oriented product. Furthermore, the project aims to introduce ECVET principles within the model, so that mobility and European recognition of competences are improved from a wider perspective. Rural tourism professionals after training are able to focus their marketing strategy and product development on the experiential approach that has been proven to be the current way of involving consumers, especially in rural tourism and tourism in general.