The general objective sought to be achieved is to find new vocational training solutions to improve the development of capacities of civil servants and professionals working in public administrations in the tourism field, to expand the leisure offer in sustainable tourist attractions. The specific objectives were: 1) To increase professionals skills (civil servants and entrepreneurs) to expand the leisure offer and the tourist attraction of small cities, offering additional experiences based on culture, digitalization and sustainable solutions; 2) To strength capacities for local tourism development, between small and medium-sized cities, offering short-term stays in an easy-to-visit environment; 3) To improve capacities of small municipalities to develop new tourism products based on digitalization and sustainability through the promotion of new tourism businesses and the citizen participation process to guarantee a positive impact on the territory.
Small cities in inland territories present difficulties when planning and developing actions aimed at tourism not only as an economic engine, but also as a reference for sustainable local development that relies on the cooperation stakeholders in the field of tourism to strengthen the supply the value chain based on principles of sustainability, digitalization and training. In this sense, the cooperation of 4 European cities with similar characteristics has been necessary, which detected that tourism is based on an industrial bubble whose management has been based on promotional actions to achieve a greater influx of visitors without being aligned with factors that conform smart tourist destinations. Therefore, the needs that were detected were: 1) Tourism planning and management, improving fundamental aspects of governance, sustainability, accessibility, connectivity, innovation, tourist information and online marketing; 2) Creation of stakeholder’s network to collaborate and cooperate with the aim to improve tourism development; 3) Creation of tourist destinations aligned with other sectors to balance the positive and negative effects of tourism development.