SMARTOUR wants to define the profile of the Sustainable Tourism Manager, as a qualified professional that can contribute to the economic, environmental and social development of the community where the organisation is located.
In order to achieve its goals the project will develop a training path and related tools aiming to equip tourist professionals with the right skills to become a Sustainable Tourism Manager. This will include knowledge and skills to establish a sustainable management plan for the facilities under management, and to undertake the actions needed to achieve sustainability objectives from the environmental, economic and social point of view.
The project foresees the use of accessible online tools to allow people to understand which actions are the most suitable for their facilities. This should also enable a wider rural audience to take part in the project.
The Sustainable Tourism Manager model will develop as a result of the experience of the partners and the analysis of the territory where they are based, to encompass different perspectives, locational requirements and traditions. The structure of the project is therefore conceived to respond to European principles towards a European Area of Skills and Qualifications through the shared experience of the partners and joint recognition of training outputs. Very high turnover of staff occurs in the tourism sector, due to the inability to professionally progress through a lack of training or qualifications – this project will address this issue.
The project will be looking to work with a range of organisations including those managing accommodation, facilities and attractions. Please get in touch with the lead if you would like more information or to be involved in the project.
Project start Autumn 2015 Project end Autumn 2017
The project is funded under ERASMUSPLUS Key Action 2 Strategic Partnerships.
Lead
Jon Fairburn, Professor of Sustainable Development, Staffordshire University
+44 1782 294094 jon.fairburn@staffs.ac.uk
Partners
Vicki Disley, Newcastle under Lyme College, UK https://www.nulc.ac.uk/
Dr. Julie Scott, Touch TD, UK www.touchtd.com
Barbara Maria Casillo, Associazione Italiana Confindustria Alberghi, Italy http://www.alberghiconfindustria.it/
Gianluca Coppola, Eurocrea Merchant Srl, Italy www.eurocreamerchant.it
Pirkko Varis, Tampere University of Applied Sciences, Finland www.tamk.fi
Mattheos Kakaris, CrystalClearSoft, Greece www.ccseducation.com
