This project aims to develop, structure and share the professional knowledge about local -based sustainable tourism 4.0. European VET providers and educational institutions will be involved in a professional training and self-training process in order to face the challenges of contemporary tourism. Contemporary tourism businesses, in fact, in the last decade have been experiencing the challenge of new forms of tourism, but also a lack of an adapted and updated professional education in this field. All over Europe and beyond contemporary tourists want to enjoy authentic local realities together with local inhabitants. On the other hand, the increasing presence of sharing economy websites and apps encouraged several non-professionals to open up to tourism business. Both these phenomena contributed to the development of non-structured practices in the contemporary forms of hospitality and to the increasing obsolescence of traditional business models. In this framework this strategic partnership of six European VET providers, higher education institutions, NGOs and SMEs aims to structure these practices in a shareable form of professional knowledge. A training path will be designed, developed and tested in order to be deliverable both for online and face-to-face education. For this purpose, a specific methodology will be designed in order to extrapolate models from local best practices in the involved countries. The learning tools will be tested - online and offline - and will be delivered as the first European-based educational toolkit for sustainable local-based tourism 4.0, available for future tourism professionals and tourism professionals who want to update their competences.
A training path was designed through a complex process of analyzing existing small innovative tourism enterprises. Developed a comprehensive educational toolkit that provided trainees with high-quality competencies. A comparative analysis was conducted in five countries and a European VET training pathway was developed.
The first need this project was designed to address concerns the gap between the actual contemporary tourism market and existing VET education in the field of tourism. Today's tourism businesses, are experiencing not only the challenges of new forms of tourism, but also the lack of adapted and updated vocational education in the field. Across Europe and beyond, modern tourists want to enjoy authentic local realities together with local people. On the other hand, the growing presence of sharing economy websites and apps has encouraged several non-professionals to open up to the tourism business. Both of these developments have contributed to the growth of unstructured practices in contemporary forms of hospitality and the increasing obsolescence of traditional business models. A training path has been designed, developed and tested so that it can be applied to both online and face-to-face education. To this end, a methodology was developed using local practices in the countries involved. Educational tools were tested - online and offline.