Adventure Tourism Innovation Partnerships Erasmus Project

Project Title

Adventure Tourism Innovation Partnerships

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 higher education

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2017

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: ICT – new technologies – digital competences; Quality and Relevance of Higher Education in Partner Countries; New innovative curricula/educational methods/development of training courses

Project Summary

Context
The tourism industry is one of the largest in the world, accounting for 9% of global GDP. Europe is the world-leading tourist destination and the third largest economic activity in the European Union (9.9% of GDP, rising to 11% by 2026), employing over 25 million people. Adventure tourism is one of its fastest growing segments growing exponentially year-on-year. ATTA estimated adventure tourism to be worth $263 Bn in 2013, growing at a rate of 195% in three years.

Adventure tourism is widely recognised as a powerful tool that can promote sustainable growth, generating smart jobs, as well as providing strong incentives for conserving the natural environment. Indeed, Scotland’s ‘Tourism 2020’ strategy identifies activities and adventure as having real growth potential. The strategy identifies the need to develop skills in a range of areas to support the industry’s ambitions for growth, including: management and leadership; enabling high quality customer experiences; and ensuring the availability of appropriate training.

Objectives
1. Develop innovation partnerships between HE, VET Institutions and businesses to identify skills gaps, develop flexible learning pathways and exchange best practice..
2. Develop flexible learning modules on digital technologies, to transform graduate and SME capacity to digitise their business experience.
3. Develop flexible learning modules on product development/innovation, to help learners acquire commercialisation skills and competencies.
4. Create an open online collaboration platform, to promote ‘communities of learning’ and foster regional and transnational cooperation.

Participants
IO1: 103 businesses were surveyed regarding their existing skill levels, desired new skills and the most desirable means of learning. 61 businesses were involved in stakeholder workshops in the four countries to launch AVIP and further discuss these learning issues.
IO2 and IO3: the 14 modules were piloted with a total of 225 students, 72 businesses and six ‘other’ stakeholders.
Multiplier events: four national MEs were held hosting a total of 184 participants. An international ME attracted 11 overseas and 43 national participants.

Dissemination:
“Trainers Guide IO2”- downloaded 254 times
“Trainer Guide IO3”- downloaded 247 times
“Guide for Interactive workshop”- downloaded 245 times
“Partnership plans” – 415 downloads
Adventure Tourism innovation partnership closed group on Facebook-33 members
https://www.facebook.com/groups/219915611895156/
Website (https://adventuretourism.eu/) visits: 19,490

Activities
The project activities were broken down in to: project management, intellectual outputs and multiplier vents:

Project management:
The project logo and brand manual were created at the beginning of the project, as well as a dissemination strategy. A dissemination diary has been completed by each partner as a way of logging all dissemination activities, including their dissemination activities on their own website and social media channels, project newsletters, presentations and meetings.Sustainability: A sustainability strategy has been developed to support the sustainability of project activities after the end of the project.Quality Management and Evaluation: An external evaluator was contracted to provide an interim and final evaluation report for the project. Internal evaluation involved five transnational partner meetings, monthly Skype meetings, as well as quarterly partner surveys and progress reports.

Intellectual outputs:
IO1: Four regional partnership plans were produced and made available on the project website (www.adventuretourism.eu).
IO2 and IO3: Fourteen modules (eight digital marketing and six product development/innovation) have been developed, pilot tested and made available on the project website.
IO4: The project knowledge exchange platform has been developed (www.adventuretourism.eu), allowing for international collaboration and to promote best practice.

Multiplier Events:
Five multiplier events were held by the partners, as per the application, to officially launch the project outputs: one in Estonia, one in Bulgaria, one in Ireland and two in Scotland (one national and one international).

Impacts
AVIP has had and will have a range of impacts:
1. Regionally-aligned training opportunities that better meet identified skills needs.
2. Upskilling of entrepreneurs, employees and students in a broad range of product development and digital tourism subject relevant to the fast-changing adventure tourism sector.
3. This creates enhanced ability to commercialise new products and services and more effectively promote new and existing services, increasing business competitiveness.
4. Longer term benefits include increase recognition of the benefits of flexible learning pathways for continuing professional development, as detailed in the regional partnership plans.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 268699 Eur

Project Coordinator

UNIVERSITY OF THE HIGHLANDS AND ISLANDS & Country: UK

Project Partners

• European E-learning Institute
• MOMENTUM MARKETING SERVICES LIMITED
• TALLINN UNIVERSITY
• Lochaber Chamber of Commerce
• Varnenska turisticheska kamara