Enriching Digital Design Competences for the empowerment of Cultural Tourism

With the COVID-19 onslaught having forced cultural life to retreat implying a massive impact on the sector, the pandemic and economic crisis can be also regarded as a cultural one (A & Al-Said, 20...

The project aims at empowering low-skilled adults especially from rural areas to promote Cultural Tourism (CT) resources by developing their skills in Digital Design & Digital Thinking towards the digital transformation of CT. Upon project completion, participants will have a deep understanding in digital design principles and be able not only to map out digital content that promotes local culture values but also to manage the tones of resources available in cultural life (museum exhibits, local products/food, places to visit, etc.) in an entreating manner. Specific objectives: - To create a series of handbooks for adults' up-skilling including practical examples of how Digital Thinking & Digital Design is applied in Cultural Tourism - To develop a virtual assistant that will guide and support the participants in creating their own project, namely their own Digital Tourist Guide - To build an online European Network serving as a community of practice and giving the opportunity to the project network to work towards affecting European policies for cultural heritage tourism.

In alignment with the aforementioned objectives, specific activities based on Agile methodology were implemented: -A needs validation report serving as the basis of the white paper stating the current situation in partner countries regarding the post-COVID heritage tourism activities and the skills required to overcome tourism unemployment -The development of practical handbooks for low-skilled adults with useful guidelines and examples of Digital Design principles in Cultural Tourism Promotion -The configuration of a virtual tool to foster the hybrid skills of participants towards empowering them to promote their own Digital Cultural Tourist Guide -The establishment of a strong network inside and outside the partnership towards the creation of CulTour Design synergies of practice through a digital community especially developed for the project enthusiasts -Project, Quality, Sharing & Promotion, Piloting and Exploitation plans supporting all the horizontal activities and establishing the impact of the project through top quality results

INTANGIBLE RESULTS: -Raising awareness about the current situation and actions taken in-response to COVID-19 as well as the impact on cultural tourism. -Implementation of novel ICT-enabled training methods for skills development helping rural citizens and tourism professionals to acquire digital skills while safeguarding the cultural sector. -Enhancement of smart solutions and e-learning strategies in E&T within the context of cultural and creative sectors turning to online solutions due to the crisis confinement. -Incorporation of open educational resources (OERs) and open software in the learning process complemented by motivating online learning activities -Development of a wide network of stakeholders providing the opportunity to open a dialogue among cultural tourism communities -Affecting policies related to cultural tourism initiatives across the EU TANGIBLE RESULTS: 1.A series of inclusive handbooks especially developed for adults seeking job opportunities in the cultural tourism sector. The handbooks aim at enhancing the digital skills of low-skilled adults with a focus on those from rural areas. 2.A cloud-based assistant allowing low-skilled adults to create their own cultural tours, utilizing digital thinking principles to design virtual products that promote their local culture and safeguard tourism sustainability. 3.The CulTour Digital European Community that constitutes a dedicated online space serving as a single point of information and communication for the project practitioners and interested parties under the scope of increasing the project network and thus impact among European creative/cultural industries and policy making authorities.