To address the challenges people in the thermal and gastro tourism were facing during the recovery period EduAge decided to develop professional training for the staff and means for the businesses to build and develop their go-to-market capacity. The positive effect EduAge was looking to achieve was to enable people and businesses from the sector to create a context in their own professional environment that would allow them to use their own initiative for innovation and business development. We had many discussions with some of our partners, during another Erasmus+ project (ECT SKILLS) and we decided that we can join our efforts and expertise to support the thermal and gastro industry. In our preliminary research prior to the project application we found out that the challenges the industry is facing are similar in all partnering countries; Austria, Bulgaria, Spain and Italy.
Following the recent development in the tourism sector which was severely affected due to COVID pandemic after 2020 and especially the thermal spas and gastronomy, EduAge as a training company with innovative approach in professional skills development decided to support the tourism sector. The sector represents a significant part in the local economies, especially in the rural areas, thus multiplying the negative effect from the pandemic lock-downs for the local communities in a cascading manner. Due to the lock-downs, which were mainly imposed in the winter season, the spa industry lost income in the period with the highest turnover. People and businesses in the tourism sector generally lack alternatives and were forced to rely on social programs and recovery funds for their survival. Our team travels a lot and we have discovered that the industry is slow to adapt new approaches and to follow the modern trends. The prospect of recovery in 2022 represented an opportunity for the tourism industry which by tradition is conservative and biassed towards innovation. With our partners we saw the need for developing the marketing capacity of the people in thermal and gastro industry and empower them with innovative training and tools.