Registration for the ECO-CRUISING FU_TOUR Capacity Building Programme is now open
The ECO-CRUISING FU_TOUR (https://ecocruising-fu-tour.eu/) project is one of the flagship project co-funded by the European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency (CINEA), under the European Maritime, Fisheries and Aquaculture Fund (EMFAF).
The project aims to boost the managerial, innovative, blue, green, and digital skills of tourism West Mediterranean SMEs, but ultimately public and private stakeholders in charge of promoting EU and West European coastal and maritime destinations. The goal is to exploit the green potential of West Mediterranean tourism SMEs and cross-border cooperation to unlock new business opportunities around the new eco-cruise tourism sector.
The project has a specific focus on skills improvement in the green and blue economy and therefore has set up a high-level capacity building programme to drive the green and blue transition for EU and WestMed tourism SMEs and ecosystem players, with a specific focus on the maritime and cruise industry and related tourism.
The programme includes a training programme of 25 hours for West Mediterranean tourism SMEs (including owners, managers and employees), with a specific focus on cruise companies, public and private organisation in charge of maritime and coastal tourism management, DMO, NTOs and public organisation in charge of maritime preservation and sustainable tourism promotion in island destinations; and a masterclass series of 10 hours open to cruise companies, public and private organisation in charge of maritime and coastal tourism management, DMOs (including executive staff and managers). Both programmes will be offered for free in English from 15 September to 4 November 2023 online via the Moodle platform.
The training programme includes all state-of-the-art knowledge that is needed to propel the green transition of West Mediterranean tourism SMEs, including the cruise tourism sector. Key topics will deal with : sustainable development goals; the EU policy framework for the cruise tourism sector; main challenges and potential solutions for the sector along all sustainability dimensions (environmental; social; economic); key adaptations needed for ports and destinations; the Fit-for-55- package for sustainable cruise activity; environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues in the sector; green skills; European maritime safety; crisis and emergency management.
The training programme has been elaborated with a focus on a student-centred approach. The main objective is to provide trainees with key insights to foster a green transition, related terminology, and relevant good practices. It provides knowledge about the current potential of the tourism sector and its green transition, driving the effort from SMEs in particular, to adapt to new requirements set for the green transformation. Small-scale assignments have been included in all modules to allow trainees screen the information provided and apply the new knowledge they acquired to near-transfer tasks.
The masterclasses will mirror the content of the training programme, providing, however, providing advanced knowledge and guidance to facilitate the green transformation to a multitude of stakeholders, namely the cruise companies, but ultimately key public and private organisations in charge of maritime and coastal tourism management, Destination Management Organisations, National Tourism Boards as well as public and private organisations in charge of marine preservation and sustainable tourism promotion, with a specific focus on islands or remote destinations. It will be shorter in duration (10 hours) and it will involve a key learning activity for trainees, namely, to elaborate a Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats analysis for their organizations and create a strategic roadmap for a green transition focusing on their own organization, which will be based on good practices in the tourism sector.
The project offers a tremendous opportunity for the coastal, maritime, and marine stakeholders from the West Mediterranean counties and from the EU to understand key knowledge about the sustainable tourism industry and how to pivot to a greener economy.
The registration to both courses is live and can be easily managed here: https://ecocruising-fu- tour.eu/capacity-building-programme-registration-page
