In the last decade, different official institutions have begun to talk more frequently about "ecotourism." A tourism that aims to be a memorable experience thanks to which we can discover the most valuable natural settlements, always under the premise of an active commitment to heritage conservation and social development. But one of the greatest weaknesses of many local territories is that their attractions are not treated as tourism products. The project wants to study and propose ecotourism products based on innovation, competitiveness and sustainability. Also we’d like to show the importance of new work formulas based on collaborative economy in the tourism field. Ecotourism is an important way for using and employing our partner’s European territory with its natural potential and its cultural traditional heritage based on a sustainable development and for the advantage of every European citizen. With this project work we want to make our students aware about those common values and developing a responsible and willing behaviour for respecting and preserving those common goods and taking advantage of them for the future. Our selected students who are interested in environmental problems and the consequences of the tourism on the environment and concerned about biodiversity, environmentalism and interested in a responsible way of travelling and sustainable development of local environment. As for the general methodology the students will work in collaborative international groups of students in order to investigate on the European dimension of education. By widening their knowledge about the importance of youth participation all püroject members will gain knowledge on how to encourage young people to be active and promote active citizenship through eco-tourism. By developing ideas on how to increase an interest in eco-tourism among local communities we will gain new knowledge on the development of ecotourism for local communities. Finally, our project products serve to share experience and best practices in creating eco-tourism related projects. With the activities planned we intend to give value to the respective resources of each territory from the educational and economic point of view. In the long run, with our project, we aim at fostering the innovational sense of the younger generations as Ecotourism is an important way for using and employing each country‘s great potential based on the principle of sustainable development and for the advantage of every European citizen. Education of young people must refer to make them aware about those common values. Thanks to the various mobilities and the resulting collaboration, our students will increase their awareness of the need to develop a responsible and willing behaviour for respecting and preserving those common goods and capitalizing them for the future through ecotourism.
Tourism in the time of globalization and how to avoid that overcrowding and neglect destroy the natural wealth and the sustainability of touristic resources are the factors that generated the answer defined nowadays as Ecotourism. This concept involves environmental, economic and social issues which vigilance is of crucial importance to ensure the survival of natural and historical patrimony. Putting together the tourist potentials of the participating European countries, the objective was that our students had the opportunity to know the different realities and reflect on the practices and their consequences. In this way it is possible to awaken a common conscience that will help preserve the natural and cultural wealth of Europe. International meetings have been organized to involve students in the development of good ecotourism practices and have included the knowledge of cultural and natural richness, conservation projects and normative approach and their consequences. During the first mobility (Spain) they got familiar with the fundamental concepts of Ecotourism and had the opportunity of comparing the effects of human intervention on some touristic spots throughout the years. During the second one (Portugal) they approached the three main sectors directly involved in tourism: institutions, professionals and consumers. At the third mobility (France) each international team was given the opportunity of being creative and presented an ecotourism accommodation in which they have worked on all environmental aspects related to the theme: materials, construction, organization, philosophy, energy, etc. During the fourth meeting (Germany) each country set a stand with typical referents and food of their places and the exposition was visited by students, teachers and families. ICT tools were also applied to work on sustainable tourism as a way of preserving the environment. Furthermore, during all meetings, many parallel activities (exhibitions, visits to natural parks, eco-sport activities, …) and mixed international teams projects offered the students a glance at the different European realities and gave them the opportunity of collaborating with their international partners in the creation of a more responsible way of living tourism. Digital and/or physical materials such as magazines, ebooks or websites have been created after each mobility to collect the work and results obtained by the students. These materials have been shared with the respective school communities for their benefit and they will be used as referents for future projects and future student generations. This project has fostered the creation and improvement of an awareness of the necessity of giving an answer to the problems created by the abuse of mass tourism activities. In the long term this is a way of creating future conscious citizens, able to value and help to respect the environment and european natural and historical richness.