SUSTAINABLE TOURISM BELONGS IN THE FUTURE Erasmus Project

Project Title

SUSTAINABLE TOURISM BELONGS IN THE FUTURE

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 Schools Only

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2017

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: EU Citizenship, EU awareness and Democracy; Rural development and urbanisation; Environment and climate change

Project Summary

The time having come to do an Erasmus+ project, I chose sustainable tourism as a subject because it was a topical issue much in the news due to people’s changing travelling habits, and the debate over climate change and globalization. The main objective was to raise awareness of sustainable tourism and make students think about realistic solutions.
I was given the go-ahead, and used the eTwinning platform where Italian, German, and Turkish partners were soon found. A Czech partner later joined the project thanks to Mr. Votava, at the Alliance Française in Prague.
In September 2017, we started preparing for TNM 1 due to be held in Châteaudun in October. The students of each Erasmus+ group were made to prepare presentations or videos about their schools and towns, which they sent to their partners.
We knew that our three towns had many things in common (size, rural environment, medieval castle, river, historical town centre), but there were huge differences as far as tourism was concerned: hardly any tourism in Biedenkopf, moderate tourism in Châteaudun, and overtourism in Cesky Krumlov.
In October, our Italian and Turkish partners informed me that they could no longer be part of the Eramus+ Project. So only the German and Czech teachers attended TNM 1, which enabled us to get acquainted, share our views on the project, and plan in detail the activities to be carried out until Mobility 1 in Biedenkopf, in April 2018.
Subsequently, meetings with parents were held in each school, and the students started working on the differences between mass tourism and sustainable tourism, and then on the creating of questionnaires about people’s habits as tourists, and tourism in our towns. They interviewed people and carried out a survey.
The mobility in Biedenkopf focused on the question of how young people could spend a short holiday there (a town where there are virtually no tourists) in an interesting and sustainable way. The students visited different private and public organizations, wrote articles in groups about their experiences, and created leaflets. The teachers-only meeting that was held enabled us to share information and agree on what would have to be done by 15 October 2018, when Mobility 2 in Cesky Krumlov was due to take place.
We then focused on the problem of overtourism. Students went on day trips to tourist hotspots (Montmartre, Ruedesheim, Cesky Krumlov itself), and prepared slideshows about their findings.
During the mobility in Cesky Krumlov, overtourism took centre stage. Students had to find out what problems arose from mass tourism. They created a leaflet on slow tourism urging people to spend at least six days in Cesky Krumlov. In the teachers-only meeting, the orientation of the project was discussed. We wanted to avoid a repeat performance and introduce new activities as the Czech and German students would be the same, unlike the French students.
Thus, during Year 2 of the project, we carried out research on ecolabels in tourism, and highlighted the importance of our rivers in local sustainable tourism.
For Mobility 3 in Châteaudun in May 2019, a schedule was prepared with alternating periods of presentations, outings, attending classes, and creating a comprehensive slideshow of the various visits in multinational teams. The onus was on the French team to show partners that sustainable tourism was possible in Châteaudun.
During TNM 2 held in Châteaudun in June 2019, we evaluated the project as a whole, wrote the Final Report summary. Material was assembled for a slideshow, or possibly a videoclip to be created with the help of a professional.
Although we did not always see eye to eye with one another, due to the different situations and working conditions in our respective schools, we managed to achieve a happy medium and conduct the project to mutual satisfaction, thanks to regular cooperation and communication throughout those two years. The main difficulty was aligning the activities to be carried out as our school years are organized differently, and we did not have the same Erasmus+ group structure: a club with a score of voluntary students in Lahntalschule, approximately sixty selected students of four groups in the Cesky Krumlov Gymnazium, and fifty-six students working on the project as part of the 2nde curriculum, at Lycée Zola, the challenge being to make them adhere to the project and volunteer to participate in a mobility. Those circumstances induced various degrees of motivation and involvement. Their degree of fluency in English also varied. However, all the students got on well and communicated actively during the mobilities.
Our common evaluation showed that an overwhelming majority of the participants are better aware of the benefits of developing sustain sustainable tourism now, more sensitive to environmental issues in general, and more interested in the E.U. than they were before the project.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 44860 Eur

Project Coordinator

LYCEE EMILE ZOLA & Country: FR

Project Partners

• Istituto Tecnico Statale CARLO CATTANEO
• Gymnazium,Cesky Krumlov
• KIRKAGAC ANADOLU LISESI
• Lahntalschule Biedenkopf