European network of eco-hosts in wild nature Erasmus Project

Project Title

European network of eco-hosts in wild nature

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 adult education

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2020

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Environment and climate change; Energy and resources

Project Summary

The growing attraction for eco-tourism leads to developing the reception of visitors to natural areas around the world, and in particular the rarest and most fragile of them, often the most attractive in terms of tourism. In Europe, this eco-tourism development is an economic issue both for countries and regions with natural capital still preserved, in particular for certain remote outermost regions (French Guiana for example), and for the territories already very popular which want to preserve the natural spaces remaining by a better controlled approach to tourism development.
This is why a number of eco-labels and various training resources have been developed for several years for European tourism players to promote sustainable tourism and tourism practices compatible with the fragility of the natural environment.
However, to date there are few support and training solutions on a European scale that are adapted to the constraints and needs of accommodation providers located in natural areas: remoteness, organizational constraints incompatible with training methods in face to face, need for concrete and immediate solutions rather than theoretical content … In addition, the supports provided within the framework of eco-labeling approaches (WWF Gite Panda for example) require a high degree of activism and commitment, which is beyond the reach of most managers.
Finally, among the existing training or support offers, few of them are also reaching a better level of training for tourists visiting these natural areas. This targeting of tourists is however essential to the development of individual and collective behavior of people accommodated eco-compatible with the fragility of the areas that welcome them.

The ECO Hosting.net project is the result of cross-reflection between European operators in training, tourism and local development. These players wish to offer a common European response to the challenges of training and support for tourist accommodation providers in fragile natural areas and their customers, stemming from the capitalization of experiences and diverse regional situations: very isolated Guyanese forest, Greek islands subject to both to strong environmental and tourist constraints, mountain areas, etc.
ECO Hosting.net brings together 5 European operators experienced in the field of training engineering, non-formal education, development of sustainable tourism and environmental education: the Sud Concept Amazonie cooperative, specialized in training engineering, who has supported tourism operators in Guyana, the GAL Molise in Italy, local development agency, the MKP (Greece), environmental education association, Karpos (Greece) experienced in non-formal education through multimedia, and the training organization AidLearn, (Portugal) which has contributed for 10 years to the training of Portuguese and European tourism operators on the theme of sustainable tourism.
These 5 partners will build a new European offer of quality training aimed jointly at two target audiences: managers of tourist accommodation in natural areas, and tourists who frequent them.
ECO Hosting.net productions will offer:
1. An environmental self-diagnostic guide, allowing managers and teams of tourist accommodation to identify their weak points and their margins for progress with regard to environmental issues (water, energy, waste, etc.). Manageable independently, it allows the host to become aware of his training needs and build his career.
2. ECO Hosting.net training content for target audiences:
– For tourists who wish to train in eco-compatible behavior by preparing their stay in accommodation located in a natural area, educational videos dedicated to eco-friendly actions to adopt, and information and training content on environmental themes requiring eco-citizen behavior.
– For accommodation managers, a series of thematic chapters, taking up the axes of the self-diagnostic guide, and structured as follows: environmental issues, technical, social, managerial solutions available, feasibility, costs, etc. These chapters are supplemented by a series of animated tutorials illustrating examples of solutions.
3. An E-Learning platform accessible to all, putting ECO Hosting.net content free and interactively. It is the main training medium, since the project is essentially aimed at independent learning.

All productions are available in 5 languages ​​(English, French, Greek, Italian, Portuguese).

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 203610 Eur

Project Coordinator

SUD CONCEPT & Country: FR

Project Partners

• KARPOS KENTRO EKPAIDEYTIKON DRASEONKAI DIAPOLITISMIKHS EPIKOINONIAS
• Aidlearn, Consultoria em Recursos Humanos Lda.
• Molise verso il 2000 scrl
• Mesogeiako Kentro Perivallontos