RESPONSIBLE YOUNG ENTREPRENEURS IN THE FIELD OF TOURISM

The project aims to devise an innovative and unconventional training model that supports the development of responsible entrepreneurial mind-sets and skills of young people in the tourism sector (with the long-term objective of also promoting the sustainable development of European economy) and to test this model by involving two groups of young unemployed and/or NEET from two different Member States. In the new knowledge economy - and in the tourism sector in particular – a wide set of skills is required to improve the employability of young workers, including professional, managerial, operational, behavioural, inter personal and inter functional skills. Traditional vocational courses often focuses only on professional and operational skills and the training is often delivered through formal and frontal programmes. Also, sustainability and responsibility issues are very rarely addressed.
Education should not only be an instrument of enhancing efficiency but also an effective tool of widening and augmenting democratic participation and upgrading the overall quality of individual and societal life. According to this view, the training model devised by the project has the purpose to help young participants to develop into knowledge workers who will be more flexible, analytical, adaptable, multi skilled and responsible.
The training model exploits the opportunity to connect vocational training and coaching with soft skills training in a non formal environment where the young participants are offered support, guidance, advise and a chance to actually put their ideas into practice, according to the principles of responsibility and sustainability.
The training programme is conceived in order to consider and support the ideas proposed by the students during the selection phase. The selected ideas will be the starting point of the learning process and its concrete objective. In other words, the participants will focus from the very beginning on their “projects” and the technical/operational training, as well as the soft skills training, will be delivered in order to address different phases and issues of the process of turning an idea into a possible real business (reverse training). In this way, students will find themselves working on their idea/project, gradually acquiring the skills needed to achieve it, both from the technical and professional side (improvement of theoretical and practical preparation) and from a relational and societal point of view (improvement of soft skills).
In particular, young participants will give themselves a challenge by jointly devising responsible tourism proposals that put local communities at the centre of the tourist experience.
A central point of the training action will be the use non-formal methods, such as game-simulation and rock climbing to foster the creativity and the soft skills of young participants. A key element will be also the collecting and use of video interviews where relevant actors of existing initiatives of responsible and community tourism in Europe told their stories and experiences. These good practices are indeed an essential reference points for the realization of new initiatives. Particular attention will be given to issues such accessibility, migrants, legality, social economy.

The project aims to meet different needs/objectives:
i. To improve the employability and promote self-employment of young unemployed/NEET from 18 to 30 years old;
ii. To promote sustainable entrepreneurship of young people in the tourism sector;
iii. To promote an inclusive local development of tourism;
iv. To develop social responsibility, ethics and active citizenship of youth;
v. To develop a sense of belonging to the European Community while at the same time appreciating and giving value to local identity through responsible tourism;
vi. To promote work-based training models that help young people to acquire skills spendable in the labour market;
vii. To promote non-conventional educational models, that stimulates creativity and problem solving.

ACTIONS
- Meetings between partner organizations to develop the innovative training model;
- Production of educational and training materials (ex. video interviews, Handbook of the young responsible tourism entrepreneur);
- Call for ideas and selection of young participants;
Project works and detailed training programme definition;
- Training delivering (including climbing activities and game-simulation);
- Reciprocal visits of participant groups in the two countries to experience best practice in local responsible tourism.

OUTPUTS
1. Training model and course;
2. “Young, responsible tourism entrepreneur” Handbook;
3. Video interviews on sustainable/responsible tourism experiences (community tourism, pro-poor tourism, tourism and legality, tourism and social economy, tourism and migrants, eco-tourism,...).