Little YETI (youth eco-tourism initiative) aims to support young people in their commitment to share and value Europe in a more sustainable and civic-minded way than before the COVID crisis: These young people carry out their own tourism projects to promote European heritage, by proposing : - an inclusive added value, while respecting the social and economic environment in which their initiatives are implemented - citizen engagement and activism affirmed through strong communication between young people, strengthening their European citizenship - high environmental added value by encouraging environmentally friendly economic development For 3 years, Little YETI offers 1/ the identification of initiatives of young Europeans in the field of ecotourism (20) in Southern Europe, Balkans, Western Europe, Scandinavia. A digital guide of good practices is produced through reports constructed by young people. It proposes portraits, reports, presentation of sites, eco-tourist dimension of the projects and their economic model. 2 /Based on an online consultation and the good practice guide, the partners are building a toolbox to support young people's initiatives. It proposes tools in terms of - Knowledge of the environment, and measuring the impact of recreational activities on the environment - Knowledge of the challenges of enhancing intangible heritage and the inclusion of inhabitants in the tourist offer - Technical tools for economic odre and adapted economic models - Tools for measuring indicators related to the environmental and sustainable dimension of projects - Use of digital tools to promote initiatives and knowledge of communication networks This toolkit is accessible to young people, and to adults who support the approaches of these young people, actors of youth. They are people working in the sectors of tourism, environment, creative industries and cultural heritage enhancement, and in the support to entrepreneurship and the creation of activity for young people. 3 / Training programme for youth actors in the eco-tourism sector. The partners mobilise youth actors and experts in the field of tourism and environment (IR and Desfimed), Valorisation of intangible heritage (FR/ Laba), Support for youth initiative and entrepreneurship (MT, RO, SE). They are building 4 online training programmes, which they are experimenting during 2 training sessions (C). 4/ The partners carry out 5 dissemination events highlighting 5 tourist routes carried out on their territory. During these events, they present the productions made during the project to political decision-makers, young people, inhabitants, youth actors, tourism and environment professionals. They then organise five debates bringing together young people, youth actors and political decision-makers and collect the exchanges developed during these debates, which they record in their communication tools. Little YETI brings together 6 complementary partners (tourism, environment, European cultural heritage and youth) and geographically spread throughout Europe. YETI becomes a tool for mediation between young people and European policy makers, by proposing new citizen models of valorisation of European heritage and by proposing models of public actions based on successful initiatives of young European citizens. YETI mobilises 180 youth actors, who produce tools that will be consulted by 18,000 people (young people and youth actors) at the end of the project.
Objectives: Enable young people to travel differently, train differently (face-to-face hybrid training, masterclasses and online mentoring) and rethink our relationship with our natural environment. YETI offers young people the opportunity to take concrete action to propose new policies to decision-makers. This opportunity is all the more relevant as it is offered on a European scale. Each partner consolidates its specificity and expertise in a fast-developing sector: ecotourism. Defismed, IDEI, LABA, Vismednet: formal and informal training for young people. BIA and Defismed: in eco-tourism. All partners are developing cross-functional projects to support young people. YETI consolidates its action, supported by the active complementarity of the partners; they perpetuate their cooperation thanks to the creation of the YETI network. The network's global visibility is strengthened, and the partners develop their relationships in Europe. In order to reach out to young Europeans, the project is aimed at youth organizations that support young people in their entrepreneurial projects in the tourism and environmental sectors.
Today, young people in both rural and urban areas are keen to regain control of their lives by developing their own professional projects in their own region. The challenges are many: for rural areas to combat desertification and an aging population. The need is twofold: to promote economic opportunities for young people in order to keep them locally, and to attract people who contribute to the local economy; to improve resilience in rural areas: farms are diversified entities, and tourism is emerging as a major opportunity, particularly in times of recession, when consumers are reducing their spending and their ecological footprint to take vacations closer to home. For the tourism sector: The EU is the world leader in the tourism sector. In 2017, the total contribution of travel and tourism to EU GDP was 10.4%, employing over 27 million people. Nevertheless, the competitiveness of the tourism sector is closely linked to its sustainability, as the quality of tourist destinations is strongly influenced by their natural and cultural environment and their integration into a local community.