<< Background >>The COVID-19 pandemic has affected the Tourism sector more than others and, within the sector, vulnerable groups such as people with disabilities and seniors with aged-related health conditions are among the hardest hit: “they are often excluded from communications on public health and travel updates, decision-making and information on accessibility of basic services. Their health conditions and social isolation can expose them to serious risks” (UN World Tourism Organisation - UNWTO “Inclusive Recovery Guide”, 2020).The central role of management and staff skills in delivering accessibility is seen as one of the pillars for re-building tourism that is safe, healthy and with greater emphasis on customer service, both during and after COVID, as emphasised by the new guidance by UNWTO and the World Tourism and Travel Council (Inclusive and Accessible Guidelines to Aid Global Travel and Tourism Recovery, 2021). People with disabilities and seniors represent an immense market opportunity that is overlooked by the majority of tourism operators (EC Study, “Mapping the Supply and Performance Check of Accessible Tourism Services”, 2015). The tourism sector would benefit greatly by developing facilities and services for this market as a means of driving the recovery after the pandemic: tourism operators and destinations should harness this potential and make accessibility a reality.However, the percentage of tourism operators that can benefit from this potential is still low, due in large part to the lack of staff who are trained to cater for customers with specific access requirements. Courses in disability awareness, accessibility and inclusion are generally not offered in VET institutions as part of the training in tourism management, hospitality and catering. There is, therefore, a need for a major shift towards general training on accessible tourism, especially in this period in which all strategies for a recovery of the tourism sector should be implemented.Despite efforts in some countries and regions, permanent and recognised vocational training offers are very few and are mainly directed to continuing, professional VET while training on accessible tourism for students at VET and higher education levels is not part of mainstream curricula.The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the need for European vocational education and training systems to offer the tools and skills to provide high-quality digital education. In recent years the spread of new digital technologies has fostered the implementation of new teaching and learning approaches, using innovative digital tools including MOOCs, digital games, Artificial Intelligence and Immersive virtual experiences which are proving to be effective for a wide range of users, especially because they are flexible tools meeting the various learning needs and expectations of trainees. Nevertheless, in the current formal educational context these innovative approaches and tools are still under-represented and relatively untested.New forms of training based on digital technologies require new competences of the teaching staff, who are often little or not at all accustomed to using these tools. This creates additional challenges to the teachers who need to be creative, prepared for life-long learning and professional development in providing high-quality digital education.<< Objectives >>The project DIVETOUR aims at implementing and experimenting, within tourism VET institutions, innovative and inclusive educational approaches and digital tools for delivering new training contents on tourism and accessibility. More specifically, project main objectives are focused at:- reducing the training gap within tourism VET providers on accessible tourism topics, by embedding them in their training offer;- providing VET trainers and learners with new knowledge, skills and competences on possible strategies for the tourism sector recovery after the pandemic, with a focus on accessible tourism challenges and potential;- developing and experimenting new educational approaches and innovative digital training tools by integrating collaborative and game based learning into VET and using new media and digital technologie in a creative and collaborative way;- developing the above mentioned training tools in such a way that they are as inclusive and accessible as possible taking into account the needs and rights of VET learners with disabilities.<< Implementation >>The project DIVETOUR partners are going to:- Share within partnership theoretical and practical knowledge of possible strategies for the recovery of the tourism sector after COVID-19, with a specific focus on accessible tourism challenges and potentials- Develop a portal conceived as an Open Learning Community to be triggered by the implementation of a “connectivist” MOOC containing innovative training modules and immersive 360 videos, and to be integrated with the other project’s results (developed game-based learning, gamification, basic knowledge for the Game-based web App implementation, Chatbots)- Develop 2 learning modules to be integrated in the portal to be used for the MOOC- Develop 4 immersive “360 videos” to be integrated in the portal and to be used for the MOOC- Design, develop, implement and experiment Game-based web app on accessible tourism to ‘learn by playing’ the basics of accessible tourism, customer care and inclusion of people with disability in the tourism sector.- Design, develop, implement and experiment simple and effective Artificial Intelligence tool (chatbot) as both a training and working tool on tourism.- Test created project Results- Evaluate the Results within the partnership- Translate all internally produced material for the Online platform, the game-based web app, the chatbots, the flyer, posters, newsletters and all promotional material from English (the official language of the project) into Lithuanian, Spanish, Italian and Slovenian- Promote the project Results for adoption by VET providers- Share and promote the project results as a whole- Detect strategies for the mainstreaming- Detect strategies for the continuing of the project after its closure<< Results >>The following are the main project results and outcomes that are expected during the project and on its completion:Project Result Id1. Online platform “Open Learning Community”, including:- Design, implementation, and delivery of a “connectivist” MOOC on “New Challenges for Tourism sector after COVID-19” which will be hosted by the Open Learning Community as the core training resource for the tourism sector. The MOOC, targeted to VET beneficiaries, both students and operators in the tourism sector, will include two main training modules: a first one on the appropriate measures to mitigate the effects of COVID-19 crisis in the travel and tourism sector, without compromising accessibility and to accelerate recovery; a second one focused on accessible tourism development as one of the main levers for the recovery of the tourism sector- A digital library of learning materials, including externally available materials (from tourism institutions and from EU-funded accessible tourism projects like TAD, APP TOUR YOU, two Erasmus Plus best practices);- Self-paced and self-directed learning for different target groups (students, professionals)- Digital learning materials, including Good practices (in various fields), delivered via “How to” video Guides, Chat-bots, Gamified learning and immersive “360” video tutorials developed by the partnership. Etc.Project Result Id2. Game-based Web app on accessible tourism - digital innovative and engaging educational tool on accessible tourism to ‘learn by playing’ the basics of accessible tourism, customer care and inclusion of people with disability in the tourism sector. It will be a story-driven game that leads learners to improve their knowledge and skills, based on 4 Missions, corresponding to a learning module and split in several Goals, as intermediate achievements. Game will be built to involve user in a Story based problem which they are required to solve. The application will be integrated in the Open Learning Platform as one of the innovative features available.Project Result Id3. Artificial Intelligence tool (Accessible Tourism chatbot) - simple and effective Chatbots, embedded in the open Learning Comunity portal, which will be developed to give structured information on accessible tourism questions. The Chatbots will also be designed as a practical tool for tourism staff and entrepreneurs who want to enhance the quality of information and communication with customers on inclusive and accessibility issues. In DIVETOUR project, chatbots will also have a didactic function, since learners will be involved in their production and, with trainers’ support, will have to integrate the knowledge of the chatbots, imagining scenarios and possible information needed by customers with specific access requirements, and see if the bot can answer or it needs to be programmed further. So learners will be proactively involved in “training the chatbots”, thus recapping and integrating their acquired knowledge on accessible tourism.

Games Without Barriers project aims at developing, within the initial VET on tourism, new training contents on accessible tourism and at experimenting innovative game-based approaches and digital tools for their delivery. Context/Background Accessible Tourism is an important sector with great economic value and a solid growth. However, the percentage of tourism operators that can benefit from this market is still low also linked to the lack of staff trained to cater for customers with access needs. There is therefore a big need for training on accessible tourism but, in this respect, the situation throughout Europe is significantly inadequate. Permanent and recognised vocational training offers are very few and mainly directed to continuing VET while training for accessible tourism services is neither part of any mainstream educational provisions nor initial VET. In recent years the spread of new digital technologies and Internet has fostered the implementation of new teaching approaches, including those based on edutainment which, by applying gaming dynamics in educational settings and using new media (educational software, digital games, video games, etc.), encourage learning, making it more enjoyable, engaging and effective. Nevertheless, in the current formal educational context these innovative approaches are still under-represented. New forms of training based on gaming using digital technologies require new competences of the teaching staff. This creates additional challenges to the teachers who need to be creative, prepared for life-long learning and professional development in order to provide high-quality education.Objectives and results• to reduce the training gap within tourism VET schools with regard to accessible tourism issues, by embedding accessible tourism topics in their curricula • to develop and experiment edutainment approaches and tools in training, by integrating game-based and experiential learning in the teaching practices and using new media and digital technologies in a creative and collaborative way • to improve the knowledge of accessible tourism by teachers of tourism VET schools and increase their expertise and skills in the use of game-based learning approaches and digital training tools• to increase students’ engagement and boost their participation in training activities.• to increase students’ awareness and sensitivity towards disability and social inclusion of people with specific needs • to provide students with new knowledge, skills and competences with regard to accessible tourism• to increase the capacity of tourism VET schools to operate at transnational level, share and confront ideas, practices and methodsNumber and profile of participantsAround 15 teachers of three tourism VET schools in Italy, Romania and Spain will participate in the project activities. All of them have been teaching subjects belonging to the domain of tourism for many years 72 students, aged between 14 and 19, attending the three tourism VET schools will participate in the experimental training activities during transnational exchanges of groups of pupilsActivities• Organization of joint staff training events addressed to teachers of the partner schools who will be trained on accessible tourism issues and on the use of edutainment approaches to training• Design of training modules on accessible tourism for use in mainstream tourism VET school programmes and formal recognition of their learning outcomes • Design of training activities for the modules delivery focused on game-based learning and experiential learning, also through the use of digital technologies and tools• Design, implementation and experimentation of a game-based web app on accessible tourism• Experimentation of the new training modules on accessible tourism and the edutainment methods and tools during exchanges of groups of pupils Methodology Edutainment approaches - “game-based learning” and “gamification” - will be used in producing the game-based web app and in delivering the training activities to test the new modules on accessible tourism. In the implementation of the training activities the methodological approach of “collaborative learning” and “experiential learning” will be also adopted. Impact and potential longer term benefits• Improvement of the ability of mainstream initial VET to make better use of digital technology for teaching and learning• Increase of the efficiency of mainstream initial VET to meet the needs of tourism industry that requires staff capable of correctly taking on customers with specific access needs • Possibility for the tourism industry to exploit the high potential of accessible tourism market thanks to the availability of personnel trained to cater for customers with specific access needs• More travel opportunities for tourists with specific access needs who will benefit from the increase of tourism services adequate to their requirements

Tourism impacts on a wide range of policy areas - including competitiveness, social policy and inclusion (tourism for all) - while the continued globalisation opens new opportunities and creates increased competition. The European Commission’s Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs has focused efforts on encouraging the diversification of the European tourism offer through initiatives in different areas. As declared by the European Commission: evidence shows that making basic adjustments to a facility, providing accurate information, and understanding the needs of disabled people can result in increased visitor numbers. Improving the accessibility of tourism services increases their quality and the enjoyment of all tourists. It also improves the quality of life in local communities. Although important steps have been made in recent years, much remains to do: research and surveys on this field demonstrate that improper attitude of staff towards disability and poor customer service are two of the main problems tourists with disabilities face in carrying on their touristic experiences.According to this background and according to the European Commission definition of Accessible Tourism - the set of services and facilities that can allow people with specific needs the enjoyment of the holiday and leisure without obstacles and difficulties - the project aimed to contribute to make Europe an accessible destination, by training people on a market field that have both a social and an economic value.The main project goals were to: design, implement, promote and test, starting from a transversal focus on the field, the profile of a professional able to match the training offer and the market needs: an Ability Advisor operating in supporting SMEs to face successfully the increasing tourism for all market; to generate new job opportunities for trained people; to tackle the topic by a cross-sectoral approach matching the needs of VET providers, VET learners and SMEs; to develop a cross-sectoral partnership to look at the topic by an European perspective. The project objectives and the needs it intended to fulfill were strictly related to the target group identified and to the key stakeholders needs.The main target audience was made of VET learners or graduates aged 20 to 35, currently unemployed or underemployed, graduates from specific University courses or High School graduates with specialized diplomas (including post-school diplomas) and/or people having previous experiences in tourism services’ fields, while the key stakeholders are VET providers, SMEs operating in the tourism sector, public bodies and associations dealing with disability. To reach its objectives and the selected target groups, the project implemented, as IO1, a comprehensive document of the local framework - a starting point on which the following project steps was built - and a training course model which was tested and released as an OER in in English, Lithuanian, Italian, Portuguese languages. The training course has an average length of 80 hours. It was implemented with the support of people representing associations dealing with disability and trainers with specific skills, was evaluated by a transversal team of 27 persons representing VET providers, SMEs, public entities, associations and was delivered in its pilot version in Lithuania, Italy and Portugal in a blended mode: 40 hours of traditional classroom-based learning, 20 hours of e-learning and 20 hours of work-based learning. The WBL activities enabled learners to get a real WBL experience and the selected SMEs improved their knowledge on how to welcome better people with specific access requirements, improving their business as well. The number of people applying the course, in its testing phase was 43; also 30 SMEs. All the project activities were carried out by five partners - organizations coming from Lithuania, Italy, Portugal and Belgium, belonging to different business and social sectors and dealing with different topics (training, labour market, disability, social communication).The project was designed to become sustainable: the sustainability plan included a direct dissemination activity - a serie of small events at local level targeted to 390 persons and four Multiplier Events involving a total amount of 270 persons - to promote the course among VET providers, SMEs, public bodies, associations and a set of activities to start a collaborative dialogue with public bodies. The project was developed at transnational level, as it offers to participants opportunities to understand better foreign and European contexts, take part and be supported by an European stable network: all key assets in the touristic sector and a positive trigger for work quality and employment opportunities.

VET has a decisive role in the acquisition and certification of new competences in rural areas, which face multiple challenges and they are desperate for life saving solutions. AccessAngels teams up VET and sustainable tourism to entice the interest of the accessible tourism market. AccessAngels uses a package of personal assistance paid services (PAS), already offered to disabled tourists in major cities, adapts it and offers it as a free-of-charge package to those disabled who want to experience rural tourism. This proposition works as an enticement for the accessible tourists and may elevate the obstacle of the difficult living conditions of the rural areas.The AccessAngels project aims to meet the following objectives:- contribute to employability, economic growth and social cohesion through VET- offer to adults and young people the prospect of career opportunities through VET- promote inclusion of disadvantaged groups in the labour market- ensure the sustainability and excellence of vocational education and training.- use VET in support of sustainable development and in delivering social education to youth- provide rural tourism with a competitive advantage to attract the accessible travel market- contribute to rural economies- increase awareness of the disabled people needs in rural areas- foster active citizenship and volunteerism among the youth VET organisations, accessible travelers, rural youth and sustainable tourism authorities are the beneficiaries of this project. They are all represented in the project partnership. The direct participants will no less than 1650. The project will utilise ENAT’s network to involved accessible travelers in the baseline research and testing IO activities. The nine multiplier events will be attended by members of all target groups.The project will carry out research to determine what services to include to the PAS package for rural areas. The AA service will be managed by regional authorities and other stakeholders that could be interented, such as travel agencies, training companies. A second survey among the rural authorities will investigate their capacity to manage such service. The data gathered from the first survey will be utilised to form the definition of the service, and that of the results of the second survey will be processed to create an Operations Manual for the AA service. A training curriculum and the corresponding pedagogic material will be developed. Two trainers from each partner country will attend a 5-day train-the-trainer workshop to learn how to manage and support the AA service and how to train and coach the recruited volunteers to become AA.This project will introduce vocational education partnered with social education to service sustainable tourism.

The main ambition of IMPACTOUR project is to create an innovative and easy-to-use methodology and tool to measure and assess the impact of Cultural Tourism (CT) on European economic and social development and to improve Europe’s policies and practices on CT, strengthening its role as a sustainable driving force in the growth and economic development of European regions. CT has been recognized as one of the drivers of growth, jobs and economic development, as well intercultural understanding and social development in Europe regions and urban areas.However, there is still a knowledge gap on methods to measure different types of CT impacts and to assess multilevel and cross-border strategies, policies and practices contribution to sustainable development.IMPACTOUR proposes to bring together CT-related stakeholders and researchers to achieve new approaches taking advantage of the large amounts of information that confront policy-makers. By identifying and comparing quantitative/qualitative pan-European information on CT forms and promotion, and by providing quantifiable evidence of CT strategies and their effect on European regions’ development and Europeanisation, IMPACTOUR will deliver an innovative methodology and tool (combining data analytics algorithms with artificial intelligence and machine learning strategies) providing CT stakeholders with strategic guidance so that policies and practices on CT can be improved. IMPACTOUR will encompass a sustainable ecosystem by engaging Cultural Tourism stakeholders and following a participatory approach. IMPACTOUR tools and methods will lead to reinforcing the commitment with Europe CT, increasing citizens sense of belonging, valorisation of minority cultures, strengthening of identities and Europeanisation. IMPACTOUR Methodology will be completed and tested with data coming from 15 Data Information Pilots and the IMPACTOUR tool will be validated in 5 Validation Pilots, with distinct characteristics spread around Europe.