The Next Tourism Generation Alliance project will establish a BluePrint for Sectoral Skills Development in Tourism to provide concrete innovative and highly relevant Skills Products and Tools for improving the relationship between Industry and Education Providers in the Tourism sector and respond to skills needs. The project will develop, deliver and test the new Next Tourism Generation (NTG) Skills Products for professionals, trainers, students, university tourism departments, local authorities, companies to respond to the fast changing and increasing skills gaps in digital, green and social skills sets and Specialist Sub-Sector Tourism Skills such as Destination Management, Blue Economy Tourism, Heritage Interpretation, Gastronomy and Collaborative Economy provision with appropriate, flexible learning and training methods to enhance skills responses and training provision to ensure a more competitive, sustainable and contemporary and authentic visitor experience. The Blue print strategy will directly assist destinations, enterprises and higher education institutions to support regional strategies and plans in employment and sustainable development. The new modules and learning methods will be integrated into the current European VET system, providing a standard benchmark for sustainable tourism management, digital and technological innovation and social skills in tourism. The consortia is a multi-disciplinary partnership which comprises 14 partners: 7 Industry Partners and Tourism Sector Representatives(Federturismo, UnionCamere; Eurogites; IHK Academy Chamber of Commerce; People 1st; VIMOS; CEHAT); 6 Universities (Dublin Institute of Technology, University of Sopron, Cardiff Metropolitan University, Alicante University, NHTV Breda Applied Sciences University, Varna University) and ATLAS-Europe, the Association of Tourism Lecturers and Students in Tourism in Europe.
The NTG Alliance pursued the goal of developing a European Blueprint strategy (based on a scalable collaboration model) aimed at responding to the fast-changing and increasing skills gaps in the tourism sector, while improving image and attractiveness of the tourism careers.To ensure that the project's results will be useful for the next generation of educators, decision makers, employers, workers and students, the sectoral skills were analyzed with the year 2030 as a landmark on the horizon.
In the tourism sector, technological progress and globalization require skilled and adaptable human resources which can lead and support change.As the Sectoral Cooperation on Skills can bring tangible results of innovation and growth only if it’s driven by sectoral stakeholders, the NTG project was designed and implemented from the outset with the aim of fully involving public authorities, education and training institutions, trade unions and businesses operating in the tourism industry.
<< Background >> In the tourism sector, technological progress and globalization require skilled and adaptable human resources which can lead and support change.As the Sectoral Cooperation on Skills can bring tangible results of innovation and growth only if it’s driven by sectoral stakeholders, the NTG project was designed and implemented from the outset with the aim of fully involving public authorities, education and training institutions, trade unions and businesses operating in the tourism industry. << Objectives >> The NTG Alliance pursued the goal of developing a European Blueprint strategy (based on a scalable collaboration model) aimed at responding to the fast-changing and increasing skills gaps in the tourism sector, while improving image and attractiveness of the tourism careers.To ensure that the project's results will be useful for the next generation of educators, decision makers, employers, workers and students, the sectoral skills were analyzed with the year 2030 as a landmark on the horizon. << Implementation >> By providing concrete and innovative tools to improve the relationship between industry, education system and public authorities, the NTG project partnership – involving 14 organizations representing 8 European countries (Bulgaria, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Spain and UK) – has been engaged to build and implement a structural and permanent mechanism to bridge (and minimize) current and future skills shortages, focusing in particular on digital, green and social skills sets. << Results >> There are 6 main outputs produced by the NTG Project:1)the Tourism Skills Assessment Methodology;2)the Online Skills Matrix;3)the Tourism Sector Skills Toolkit;4)the Quality Skills Standards Framework;5)the NTG Skills Lab;6)the Blueprint Strategy and Action Plan for Tourism Skills Development.The NTG Alliance also established several national Sectoral Skills Partnerships for tourism development, supporting at the same time the activation of the Pact for Skills in Tourism.