InterCAT: International Team for Circular and Accessible Tourism Erasmus Project

Project Title

InterCAT: International Team for Circular and Accessible Tourism

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : Strategic Partnerships for vocational education and training

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2020

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Disabilities – special needs; New innovative curricula/educational methods/development of training courses; International cooperation, international relations, development cooperation

Project Summary

Tourism is recognized as one of the most important economic sectors worldwide due to its huge potential in generating economic growth and jobs and in Europe supports 25 million jobs, directly and indirectly. It is also considered a relatively easy-entry sector for youth where they can keep learning and accumulating important working skills. However, tourism is evolving becoming more complex and requires higher levels of skills under the quest of the sharing and green economy.
Circular Tourism and Accessible Tourism (CAT) are seen as two fast-growing and sustainable sectors, according to the recent EC Study on the Supply Side of Tourism Education and Training (2016), and CIRTOINNO research report (Interreg Europe, 2019). These two emerging segments are expected to create a competitive niche for disadvantaged regions pursuing sustainable development and tackling the lingering unemployment. Nevertheless, shortage in related VET training reported in various countries poses lamentable hurdles to their take-off and actions should be taken to increase the Training resources.

OBJECTIVES
Project InterCAT means to:
– to identify and exchange the best training practices in 5 project’s countries according to an evidence-based approach, to be compiled into a Glossary of Training Items for CAT
– offer solutions to skills mismatches in CAT and shortage of labour in the sector
– to adapt existing learning methods and materials with new evolved methods and realities in CAT, using a bespoke DIATool (Destination Image Analysis tool).

ACTIVITIES & METHODOLOGY
The project will focus on the exchanges and development of best practices in non-formal education skill-building for youths in order to successfully enter these emerging economic sectors.
Project activities can be divided into three categories:
1) Desk/ Office Work: By doing desk research, each partner will obtain needed background knowledge on the situation of CAT in their country and at EU level; as well as constructing appropriate training contents
2) International Mobilities: 3 Transnational Meetings and 2 Learning Mobilities will allow all partners and participants to have a better reality-check and reliable access to knowledge of the CAT circumstances and skill requirements
3) Public Relations and Dissemination: These activities will ensure the delivery of developed results to reach the desired quality and amount of audience.

RESULTS
InterCAT shall produce 4 principal results:
(1) 6-day Training Course for Staff and Trainers on CAT in Portugal: to exchange knowledge and experiences between VET trainers and educators in a peer-training manner
(2) Glossary of Training Items for CAT for VET: a direct result of the Training course by introducing CAT’s key concepts and working tools for VET training
(3) 5-day Study visit in Spain: to help participants relate better what learnt through the training with realistic examples in CAT
(4) A Destination Image Analysis Tool – DIATool: in form of an Observation Template, the Tool will be used, tested and finalized during the Study Visit in Spain.
Participants to each Mobility is strictly reserved to project partners’ staff and collaborators for ensuring capacity-building return on participating organizations.

PARTICIPANTS
The project targets three main groups:
– TG1: Tourism training providers, including VET centres, academies, colleges and associations.
– TG2: Tourism students, operative staff and managers
– TG3: Local & European public authorities, stakeholding agencies and advocacy groups.

IMPACT
The most important is the impact on the primary beneficiaries: participating organizations, VET providers, tourism workers and businesses to get access to developed project materials and field experiences for constructing their global view on CAT and reinforcing professional networks.
Any training institution (of VET/NFE nature) or tourism authority could use the best practices collected in the Training Glossary to improve their curriculum, and DIATool for self-analysis. This way, InterCAT can serve as a stimulus for further institutional investigations and policy development in this direction so as to accelerate CAT’s rate of diffusion.
In a larger scope, InterCAT contributes to UN’s Sustainable Development Goal, EU’s Access City TITLE, League of Historical and Accessible Cities (LHAC), a Resource Efficient Europe (2011) and EU Circular Economy Action Plan (CEAP).

PARTNERSHIP
The partnership presents an ample geographical distribution that will help to exploit different experiences and contexts and to disseminate project’s results all over Europe. Project consortium contains certified VET training institutions, university-business foundation and youth organizations from 5 European coastal countries: Italy, Spain, Greece, Portugal and Latvia.
Such discrepancy in terms of geography, expertise and network is valuable for creating the project’s diverse perspectives, methodological synergy, and obtaining ample public outreach.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 103943 Eur

Project Coordinator

NEW HORIZONS & Country: IT

Project Partners

• Ecological Future Education
• Previform – Laboratório, Formação, Higiene e Segurança do Trabalho, Lda
• FUNDACION UNIVERSITAT JAUME I-EMPRESA
• ERGASIA EKPAIDEFTIKI ANONYMI ETAIRIA