In the context of the last century, rural tourism has emerged as a form of tourism that is becoming increasingly important in the industry worldwide. The various new lifestyles, an evolving and more informed tourist behavior and the newfound desire for different traveling experiences coupled with a widespread concern for the cultural heritage, environment and sustainable development are all elements that have contributed tremendously to the expansion of this type of tourism. Rural tourism is a niche that revolves around resources and exists in a relation of co-dependence with the natural and human potential. Therefore, sustainable development in this field in not only a trend but rather a necessity. The target group that the project ETMRA is addressing is represented by individuals working in rural tourism facilities such as agro tourism accommodation units and B&Bs. The objectives of the project ETMRA are: - to develop a set of tools, instruments, techniques and methods that will develop and support the rural tourism marketing skills of individuals working in rural tourism facilities such as agro tourism accommodation units, in their professional activities; -to enhance the professional key competences and abilities in rural tourism marketing of individuals working in rural tourism facilities During the entire life span of this project, various interrelated and transversal activities will take place producing different results. All these activities are designed to be complementary to each other and to ensure a high the quality of the results. Throughout the life cycle of the project we will be producing four intellectual outputs: a manual that will address marketing and promotion notions and strategies and their applications in the tourism industry, a step by step guide that will address social media marketing and digital presence, a video training compiled of several individual episodes that will provide visual guidance for digital marketing tools and platforms and a learning platform in the form of a website with a user friendly interface easily navigable by anybody regardless of their level of computer literacy. All these outputs are expected to help the addressees apply corresponding measures and develop skills and competencies in the field of rural tourism marketing to properly market, to innovate and to increase the quality of tourism services that they provide, therefore leading to sustainable development resulting in investments and increased numbers of tourists. The project "Empowerment of Tourism Marketing in Rural Areas" is designed to support individuals in acquiring and developing basic skills and key competences in the field of marketing for rural tourism in order to determine socio-educational and personal development and to foster employability of participants. The project results are designed to help participants acquire new skills in the field of marketing, communication and digital literacy, skills aligned with the needs of a digital era, to develop critical thinking and creativity and an entrepreneurial mindset. The project is designed to support work based learning and it promotes interdisciplinary cooperation between several fields such as : marketing, psychology, communication and PR, technology, tourism management, thus ensuring a high permeability between different educational pathways and also ensuring the results` transferability. This project is designed to be carried out transnationally because the organisations involved in this project represent countries with different and complementary needs for tourism education. The different needs will lead to a more flexible system of outputs, including solutions to a broader range of situations and challenges. Moreover, running this project transnationally will lead to a better exploitability of the outputs in external organisations and possibly to other EU countries. As an added value, the project "Empowerment of Tourism Marketing in Rural Areas" is helping the participants develop key competences that can be used to promote the values of European cultural heritage and therefore to raise awareness of its importance. This kind of promotion can become an invaluable tool for integration, inclusion, stability and unity in Europe and the project ETMRA is aiming not only to develop rural tourism marketing skills and to educate the individuals involved in this field but also to perfect these tools and reveal the potential as key instruments for the development of a local, national and European Identity.
The main objectives of the Empowerment of Tourism Marketing in Rural Areas project were to support individuals in acquiring and developing basic skills and key competences in the field of marketing for rural tourism, in order to determine socio-educational, professional and personal development, and to foster employability of participants. More specifically, to develop a set of tools, instruments, techniques and methods that will develop and support the rural tourism marketing skills of individuals working in rural tourism facilities such as agro-tourism accommodation units, artisans, local guides, etc. in their professional activities and to enhance the professional key competences and abilities in rural tourism marketing for these individuals.
Rural tourism is a niche that revolves around resources and exists in a relation of co-dependence with the natural and human potential. Therefore, sustainable development in this field in not only a trend but rather a necessity. Therefore, conceiving and applying for a project that would support the development of this niche in a multidisciplinary approach came as a natural step for us, given not only our areas of expertise and passion but also our previous E+ endeavors alongside our partners. The main needs that we addressed revolved around the development of the human resource involved in this niche. Specifically, our ideas gravitated around individuals working in or around rural tourism facilities - whether they are business owners, employees, artisans, guides, etc. , and the importance of them learning how to promote their establishments and services, thus improving their chances for better business outcomes and implicitly better lifestyles for them individually as well as for their communities. In a nutshell, ETMRA was designed to address the need of development and enhancement of key professional competences and abilities in rural tourism marketing.