Tourism is an expanding industry in most parts of Europe fueled by an ageing population who have been used to travel and experience new activities throughout their lives. The tourist industry is experiencing a change in direction where the general interest in experiencing something new is coupled with a growing awareness of sustainability coupled with the changes in climate. Recently the awareness of climate change can be seen in youth demonstrations in European capitals which started in Stockholm 2018. This awareness of a common future can be expressed in our project whose core is relevant to our students, teachers, local communities and the tourist industries. The central part of our project is a Gastromap containing local regions in 5 countries where we will combine traditional tourist destinations with local products, preferably those with an organic and sustainable background, as well as examples of dishes using the products. The reasons for this are: 1. Both the students directly participating in the mobilities as well as the classes connected to the students will create materiel to be used in the project and will learn from each other. During the mobilities the local class will have the possibility of bonding and understanding each other through organised as well as informal activities arranged by host schools. Students chosen for mobilities will be a mix of participantats having different genders, abilities as well as including students with socio/economic disadvantages representing our society. All materiel produced will be digital and widely available. Students participating in the program will benefit from exposure to different cultures which will give a greater feeling as a european and in the future the possibility of being able to work throughout the EU. 2. The teachers/educators will benefit culturelly as well as being able to see their students in a new connection. The greatest benefit however is to be able to observe different pedagogical best practices and through this change their own and their schools methods of teaching especially digitally. The gastromap will motivate their own students to produce materiel so that they also feel included in the process as well as facilitating host visits. Teachers meeting each other in a new connection will also strengthen bonds for the future as they will coordinate the student produced materiel. 3. The local tourist authority will benefit from a new product that they can use in their marketing and thereby potentially increase/boost their market segment for gastrotourism. The local producers of relevant products will gain a higher exposure of their products and may possibly become a tourist destination themselves. Hotel and restaurants using local products (a plus for sustainability) can also benefit from an increase in tourists as well as a greater local awareness in the community of the aforementioned products. In conclusion , the perspective for this project is not only personal as regards the students and teachers working and travelling, helping them to a greater understanding of the complexity of Europe, the changes that are happening as we speak but also the product of this project that can expand to other regions and countries in future projects. This project can lead to better educational practices and therefore a better qualified workforce in an increasingly multicultural society while still keeping the particular countries/regions identity intact. An added benefit to this project will be rebuilding of ties throughout europe and the process of normalising europe in the aftermath of COVID-19.
Tourism is an expanding industry in most parts of Europe fueled by an ageing population who have been used to travel and experience new activities throughout their lives. The tourist industry is experiencing a change in direction where the general interest in experiencing something new is coupled with a growing awareness of sustainability coupled with the changes in climate. Recently the awareness of climate change can be seen in youth demonstrations in European capitals which started in Stockholm 2018. This awareness of a common future can be expressed in our project whose core is relevant to our students, teachers, local communities and the tourist industries. Our project a Gastromap containing local regions in 3 countries where we did combine traditional tourist destinations with local products, including some with an organic and sustainable background, as well as examples of traditional dishes. Main objectives accomplished: 1. Both the students directly participating in the mobilities as well as the classes connected to the students haved created materiel used in the project and have learnt from each other. During the mobilities the local class have had the possibility of bonding and understanding each other through organised as well as informal activities arranged by host schools. Students chosen for mobilities have been a mix of participantats having different genders, abilities as well as including students with socio/economic disadvantages representing our society. All materiel produced will be digital and available on the eTwinning platform (https://school-education.ec.europa.eu/en/etwinning/projects/regional-gastronomy-tourism-and-environmental-sustainability-cooperation-local-1). Students who have participated in the program have benefited from exposure to different cultures that gave them a greater feeling as a european and in the future the possibility of being able to work throughout the EU. 2. The teachers/educators have benefited culturally as well as having been able to see their students in a new light. The greatest benefit however was to be able to observe different pedagogical best practices and through this change their own and their schools methods of teaching especially digitally. The gastromap will motivate their own students to produce materiel so that they also feel included in the process as well as facilitating possible host visits in the future. Teachers that have met each other in this project have strengthened bonds for the future. 3. The local tourist authority have benefited from elements contributing to a new product that they can use in their marketing and thereby potentially increase/boost their market segment for gastrotourism. The local producers of relevant products will gain a higher exposure of their products and may possibly become a tourist destination themselves. Hotel and restaurants using local products (a plus for sustainability) can also benefit from an increase in tourists as well as a greater local awareness in the community of the aforementioned products. In conclusion , the results of this project is not only personal as regards the students and teachers working and travelling, helping them to a greater understanding of the complexity of Europe, the changes that are happening as we speak but also the product of this project can expand to other regions and countries in future projects. This project has led to a better understanding of educational practices and therefore to a better qualified workforce in an increasingly multicultural society while still keeping the particular countries/regions identity intact. An added benefit to this project will be rebuilding of ties throughout europe and the process of normalising europe in the aftermath of COVID-19. There is no doubt that COVID-19 has affected the quality of the final product negatively both owing to the smaller group of countries participating and the diminished local tourist economy during this period, especially the years 2020 to the summer of 2022.