Climate change is currently the greatest challenge facing humanity. Tourism is a very important economic sector in all participating partner countries. Tourism secures jobs. In times of climate change, sustainable tourism is essential for survival. Mass tourism threatens the environment but also social cohesion in society. Salzburg is an excellent example of the problems between residents and tourists. Overtourism burdens many cities and reduces the quality of life of the inhabitants. Raising awareness of the problem of economy versus environment is an important educational goal and teaching objective of schools. The friday for future movement has created an awareness among young people. This movement also shows that the economy and the environment must cooperate for the benefit of our planet. This project aims to develop transnational proposals on how climate change and tourism can be compatible. The country-specific problems between climate change and tourism will be worked out and discussed at project meetings in the different countries. Winter tourism plays a major role in Austria. Due to global warming and the melting of the glaciers, this economic sector is acutely threatened. Rethinking is called for. Spain suffers from heat waves and water shortage, as well as environmental pollution. In Iceland, mass tourism is affecting the sensitive natural environment, which regenerates only very slowly in this climate zone. In Finland Climate change and the resulting reduction of the snow and ice cover could mean the end for various animal species such as the Saimaa ringed seal. Mass tourism in Poland and especially in Polish cities causes high energy demand which is covered to a large extent by coal. Coal is largely responsible for climate change through CO² emissions. Within the scope of the project, Austrian, Islandic, Polish, Finnish and Spanish students of secondary schools work closely together to get an idea of what climate change actually entails for their respective countries and the significance tourism. The students will go on trips to Iceland, Austria, Spain, Poland and Finland to compare the importance of tourism for the economy, employment on one hand and water management, Living situation, waste management, and influence of tourism on natural ressources on the other hand . With this information they will do assignments and make a portfolio, resulting into a common end product: presentations and recommendations for tourism managers in the respective countries . This end product will be shared within the school (curriculum of other forms, profile papers) and outside the school (website, Facebook page school, vlog, school partnership). The information gathered within this project allows these students to have a better understanding of the problems concerning climate change, an inevitable issue for our teenagers’ future. Objectives: 1. to make students aware of the problem of climate change and in particular its effects in the individual partner countries. 2. to raise awareness of the importance of tourism for the economy (national income, jobs, etc.) but also for the interaction between tourism and climate change 3. to work out the special situations and circumstances between tourism and climate change in the individual countries. 4. producing a brochure with proposals and approaches for sustainable and environmentally sound tourism. 5. presentation of these results to tourism managers of the individual regions. 6. raising the awareness of the population for this topic. Use of media
Climate change is currently one of the greatest challenges facing humanity. Tourism is a very important economic sector the participating partner countries. In times of climate change, sustainable tourism is essential for survival. Mass tourism threatens the environment but also social cohesion in society. Salzburg is an excellent example of the problems between residents and tourists. Overtourism burdens many cities and reduces the quality of life of the inhabitants. Raising awareness of the problem of economy versus environment is an important educational goal and teaching objective of schools. The friday for future movement has created an awareness among young people. This movement also shows that the economy and the environment must cooperate for the benefit of our planet. This project aims to develop transnational proposals on how climate change and tourism can be compatible and raise awareness among students on the issue. Our project consisted of four short term mobilities (2 times in Salzburg, 2 times in Melilla) and four long term mobilities (2 students stayed in Melilla for a semester and two students stayed in Salzburg for a semester). In every short term mobility, alternative / green forms of exploring a destination were included, such as city trips by bike (from Salzburg to Berchtesgaden, city trip through Malaga and Melilla), walking tours, or even a Kayak tour in Melilla. In this way, the participants should have realized that it does not need a car or other means of motorized transport in order to get from A to B when on vacation, and if so, one should always opt for public transport such as busses or trains. Another objective was to make the participants connect with locals/people in the partner countries in order to learn more about their habits, especially in relation to traveling, and in order to find out whether those habits were sustainable. The students reached this goal by creating and using questionnaires during the short term mobilities. They conducted surveys with those questionnaires in touristic areas and analyzed the data collected regarding the people's (sustainable) habits. For example, they asked which means of transport the people used most when traveling. The students later on picked a certain area, such as age-related preferences when it comes to traveling habits, and analyzed the data in this area using excel sheets to create visuals (graphs/charts) that they used in their presentation later on. On top of the surveys, the students also used reading material provided by the teachers and they also did research on the internet regarding already existing plans for greener tourism in the partner countries. However, also hands-on experience was included in the project work, since we visited a water power plant in Salzburg (to point out how green electricity production is relevant for cities that have to face mass tourism), the glacier at Kitzsteinhorn in order to find out more about problems caused by winter tourism, we found out more about the challanges Melilla has to face especially in the field of green means of transport (little safety for bikes), and which green alternatives already exist, and how the situation could be ameliorated in general. In the long run, the participants should have become aware of the problems tourism might cause for the environment and how those two areas affect each other. The students should know what they can do to ease the situation. They should have gotten an overview of green alternatives (such as slow tourism) and they should also ultimately adapt their lifestyle to those alternatives.