Managers of European Smart Destinations

Within the MEDS project the partnership aimed at designing, testing and implementing a new, concrete and flexible training Academy on Destination Management and SMART tourism processes management....

Within the MEDS project the partnership aimed at designing, testing and implementing a new, concrete and flexible training Academy on Destination Management and SMART tourism processes management. The goal of the Academy is to improve the skills of professionals, public and private sector representatives, NGO’s, cultural institutions, etc. to rethink tourism for the future by accessing, discussing, and critically replicating sustainable best practices collected in the framework of the European Capitals of Smart Tourism including more sustainable tourism business models and innovative products and experiences to support sector’s recovery. In compliance with this goal, MEDS asks partners to use a creative combination of the 4 European Competence Frameworks, among the EntreComp (2016), DigComp (2016), LifeComp (2020) and GreenComp (2022). The MEDS Academy is a combination of digital microlearning, webinars, project work and practical exercises including hard and soft skills. Learners are followed by tutors and mentors during the whole path and in constant contact with experts in the field of DMO and SMART tourism for exchanging ideas and networking opportunities.

The main activities implemented within MEDS project was: Building a stakeholders’ ecosystem around the Academy to guarantee the collaboration of relevant stakeholders. Definition of the Professional Profile of the Manager of SMART Tourism Processes indicating the necessary skills and competencies. Definition of the Training model of the Academy and contents. Definition of the needed skills and competencies for tutors and mentors. Validation of the Methodology, tools and documents with experts. Training of tutors and mentors. Implementation of contents and tools of the Digital Academy and Microlearning. Call to Action for participation (more than 100 participants from 5 countries) MEDS Academy lessons: microlearning, webinar and speech of experts at national and international level Budding MEDS: project work involving participants and experts on concrete challenges Presentation of project works in Matera Project management and impact assessment Communication and dissemination: project website, facebook, linkedin and Instagram Pages, digital exhibition

The concrete output is the implementation of the MEDS Academy consisting of: Hard skills microlearning: Agenda 2030 and SDG’s public and private partnership: 28 learning contents Destination and Marketing Management: 30 learning contents EU Capitals of Smart Tourism: 11 learning contents ICT and New Technologies: 41 learning contents Soft skills microlearning: Digcomp skills: 15 learning contents Soft Skills: 27 learning contents Entrecomp skills: 39 learning contents Lifecomp skills: 24 learning contents No.4 online Webinars and speech of No.7 experts in the field of SMART Tourism Delivery of the attendance certificates after passing the knowledge assessment quiz at the end of the learning path The concrete outputs of the Budding Meds Project were: Development of No.13 projects Support in transforming the project works in real projects thanks to the networking activities Presentation of No.2 projects to potential investors for funding and running discussions for other projects Networking opportunities and exchanging of experiences at international level The total number of participants who enrolled in the academy were 124, and specifically: 20 from Bulgaria, 9 from Cyprus, 25 from Estonia, 47 from Italy, 23 from Slovenia.