Τo support employability and allow early familiarization of young people to the world of work, thus strengthening their sense of empowerment and independence. Tο equip young workers, or potential workers, with professional skills and working experience and later promote their validation through the appropriate European instruments, e.g. the Europass, further enriching participants CVs and their sense of achievement. The choice of the gastronomy and food tourism economy sector is not random as it includes jobs in demand on the labor market: "For many of the world’s billions of tourists, gastronomy has become a central part of the tourism experience”, offering thus plenty of job opportunities. Activities like local food and wine production, festivals, and cooking classes are integrated into tourism portfolio. The food and beverage sector contributed a value added of €180.7 billion to the EU economy in 2022, an increase of 28.9% from 2021. The food and beverage subsector was responsible for 8.4 million jobs in the EU in 2022. These data indicated that further investing on human resources to be occupied in these activities, was an act of choice.
To promote employability, it is important to provide the right skills for those jobs in demand on the market, with a better matching of skills. The movement of labor, especially relevant for young people at the start of their careers, is also a cornerstone a means of creating opportunities; once in work, young people could use those experiences to make upward occupation transitions. Gastronomy is a key driver of tourism in the European Union, supported by EU policies that promote and develop food cultures as a way to diversify tourism, revitalize rural areas, and support local economies. Furthermore, EU supports the development of digital tools for training young people to be occupied by local businesses and stakeholders that promote their culinary routes and offerings. To this end, the “ProEnGaT" project aimed to promote cross-border professional opportunities for youth in the Mediterranean, using training as a resource to support employability and allow early familiarization to work. These are also in line to one of the objectives set in the Communication by the European commission "An EU Strategy for Youth-Investing and Empowering", to increase and improve efforts in providing the right skills for those jobs in demand