Managers of European Smart Destinations

<< Background >>The consortium applied for this project to support the processes around the management of European cities that are attractive for experiencing, visiting, living, working and investing in. The basic idea of MEDS was supporting public and private players, including NGOs and local communities, to take advantage of a transformative and more sustainable tourism offer against the backdrop of significant opportunities and threats posed by Covid-19. in 2020.Partners have analyzed the direct and indirect impacts of Covid-19 on tourism, European cities at their regional and national level, which could reverse the progress that has been made towards SDGs and the Agenda 2030. Likewise, they have discussed the impact of COVID-19 in training and education, including the need to expedite digital transition in the VET systems and education as a whole.Furthermore, they have agreed that for a successful transformation of the industry, investments in workers' skills are of paramount importance, such as digitalization, entrepreneurial skills, sustainable development skills and the VET systems at the moment doesn’t offer any specific concrete and innovative training to accompany this important transition process in the field of tourism.<< Objectives >>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.<< Implementation >>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 levelBudding MEDS: project work involving participants and experts on concrete challengesPresentation of project works in MateraProject management and impact assessmentCommunication and dissemination: project website, facebook, linkedin and Instagram Pages, digital exhibition<< Results >>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 contentsDestination and Marketing Management: 30 learning contentsEU Capitals of Smart Tourism: 11 learning contentsICT and New Technologies: 41 learning contentsSoft skills microlearning: Digcomp skills: 15 learning contentsSoft Skills: 27 learning contentsEntrecomp skills: 39 learning contentsLifecomp skills: 24 learning contentsNo.4 online Webinars and speech of No.7 experts in the field of SMART TourismDelivery of the attendance certificates after passing the knowledge assessment quiz at the end of the learning pathThe 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 projectsNetworking opportunities and exchanging of experiences at international levelThe 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.