The catalogue addresses challenges in the Mediterranean and summarizes the key elements for success and the lessons learned from Mediterranean destinations paying special attention to the replicability and transferability to other Mediterranean coastal zones. The main goals of this catalogue were to showcase a range of examples and good practices of the Sustainable Tourism Community which have been successfully incorporated into policies (either at the local, regional or state level) in the Mediterranean with concrete results; To foster the transition towards sustainable development in the Mediterranean Region. Most of the best practices results included improvement management of flows considering the carrying capacity of destinations; the improvement of circularity: energy, water and waste management; implemented sustainable mobility solutions and the offer of alternative tourism models.
UNWTO Tourism Online Academy
The Tourism Online Academy is an online learning platform that provides self-paced, 100% online courses that mainly focus on concepts, areas of interest and fundamental principles related to the tourism sector, addressing the challenges it faces such as globalization, digital revolution, travel marketing and sustainability, among others. Through these first programs, participants will acquire managerial skills in digital marketing, finance, strategy, operations, innovation and digital transformation. This learning experience is available for everyone and caters to those who are looking to improve or supplement their current skillset in order to adapt to this fast-growing and evolving sector. The online courses are available on the UNTWO online academy. The main result from the implementation of the project was the improvement of the digital, green and social skillset of the tourism professionals in order to cope with multiple challenges that the sector is facing such as sustainability and digital revolution.
Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development-OECD, Webinar on “Digital upskilling, reskilling & finding talent: The role of SME ecosystems” (held virtually on March 31st, 2022, under the auspices of two OECD initiatives: “Digital for SMEs” Global Initiative (D4SME) and the “Entrepreneurship Education, Collaboration, and Engagement” (EECOLE) Network
The D4SME & EECOLE webinar on “Digital upskilling, reskilling & finding talent: The role of SME ecosystems” was held virtually on 31 March 2022. It gathered over 100 participants from 44 countries – including representatives from OECD and non-OECD countries, business associations and business representatives from SMEs, SMEs association, as well as Universities and Higher Educational Institutions. The “Digital for SMEs” Global Initiative (D4SME) is a multi-stakeholder dialogue engaging governments, large and small businesses, industry experts and associations on how to enable all SMEs to seize the benefits of digitalisation. The “Entrepreneurship Education, Collaboration, and Engagement” (EECOLE) Network aims to connect HEIs with business, finance, government at different levels, and civil society. The aim of the Network is to promote entrepreneurship education and skills and strengthen the role of HEIs as drivers of inclusiveness and sustainability. These initiatives are led by the OECD Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Regions and Cities (CFE). Digital technologies offer different opportunities for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) to improve performance. The uptake of software can help innovate products and expand markets, improve business processes and intelligence, enabling small and medium enterprises to lower transaction costs, while freeing energy and resources for more knowledge-intensive activities. Nevertheless, SMEs face substantial challenges in accessing and using effectively digital technologies. The gap is also pronounced between smaller and larger firms. One of the main barriers for SMEs is the lack of skills to master and effectively embed digital technologies in business processes. Factors such as the lack of awareness about skills needs for the digital economy, lack of knowledge about training and mentoring opportunities, and higher relative costs in finding and retaining talent can limit the development of digital skills. Closing the digital skills gap is a key step to the digital transformation of SMEs. Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) are at the core of the “knowledge economy”, but they cannot be leveraged without investment in human capital. SMEs are often unable to access digital talent or expertise within their ecosystem, or are unaware of how to up- and re-skill the existing workforce in an affordable and effective manner. Due to size and resource constrains, many small firms leverage on their ecosystem and networks to access the relevant skills to transform their business models to be digital, and unlock opportunities to be more productive, sustainable and resilient. Governments, higher education institutions (HEIs), large firms, specialised training providers, professionals and technology practitioners can all contribute to closing the digital skills gap for SMEs. They can work together to develop practical and innovative digital learning for SMEs. Proximity among these actors can facilitate collaboration, but proximity alone it is not enough. Impactful digital learning is achieved when stakeholders from private and public sectors and HEIs have the skills, capacity and resources to implement an effective lifelong learning system. In this context, the event “Digital upskilling, reskilling & finding talent: The role of SME ecosystems” aimed to understand and define the role of HEIs in the SMEs ecosystem, to unleash opportunities for trainings to develop digital skills, maximising partnerships within networks and communities.
Greener Act App
Greener Act is the first ever App that allows travellers to make positive changes by engaging in community projects and supporting local causes, at home and when travelling the world. Downloading and using this free App gives individual Travellers arriving at their destination awareness of local sustainable activities, crafted by responsible Organisations: Greener Places, Greener Events, Greener Causes and Greener Clusters. Through their digital platform, local Organisations are now empowered to create, measure and deliver more sustainable, conscientious and purposeful experiences. By showing interest, participating and contributing, Travellers actively demonstrate their commitment towards community engagement and environmental protection. Greener Act App is integrated in the scope of activities of the eGames Lab consortium – a consortium focused on the development of video games and creative industries in Portugal. The eGames Lab brings together 14 companies, R&D centres, public and private entities. For Tourists, once one has downloaded Greener Act and registered as a Traveller, one will start a sustainable journey. The more the engagement, the more one will be able to raise his/her greener profile and become a sustainable activist. One can manifest interest in participating in any local projects known as ‘Greener Events’, just by clicking the option “interested” and contribute to community development and environmental protection. One can also support any local charities which are close to the heart by donating towards ‘Greener Causes’. Greener Act does not take any commission on this transaction, as it believes that Sustainability is about transparency. It will also be possible to purchase Sustainable Experiences. For Tourism Organizations, it is useful to: Showcase the good practices of the organisation and link them to the sustainable development goals of the United Nations. Define its own KPI’s (Key Performance Indicator) for its Greener Events so that can start measuring effectively the positive impact on the environment. Create your own ‘Greener Cause’ so that you can support local charities which are close to your heart. Receive monthly reporting through dynamic dashboards for its own CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) reporting and share them on all social media. Measure its employee’s engagement and find out “who” is the Greener employee of the month in the company. Create its own cluster and to receive market intelligence to measure its community performances and engagement. Become a Carbon Offset provider and contribute to global CO2 sequestration. To create its own Sustainable Experiences and sell them through GreenerAct.
Cruise industry sustainability toolkit Partner: INSIGNARE
CLIA – Cruise Lines International Association has created a new interactive online resource that demonstrates how the cruise industry is innovating to increase the sustainability of the sector, considered one of the most polluting subsectors of the Tourism Industry. The new toolkit is accessible to all audiences and contains information in several languages, which can be downloaded and shared, including reports, statistics, maps, posters and infographics. The first edition of the toolkit is available in six languages. The target group are policy makers, Tourism companies and Cruise customers that are worried about the ecological footprint. The goals are: To present the various environmental innovations that are being introduced on board cruise ships To share stories and to raise awareness in local communities and the general public of how cruises are an integral part of societies and economies. The site includes examples of good cooperation practices between cruise lines, business organizations, ports, and local authorities.
EU Tourism Dashboard” a new tool to help policymakers at the country and regional levels to steer policies and strategies in the tourism ecosystem
The European Commission launched in 2022 the EU Tourism Dashboard, a new tool to help policy makers at country and regional level to steer policies and strategies in the tourism ecosystem. The aim of this tool is to improve access to statistics and policy-relevant indicators for tourism, supporting destinations and public authorities in tracking their progress in the green and digital transition. The dashboard will allow tourism decision makers – be it countries or regions – to identify socio-economic vulnerabilities, thus supporting the development of effective strategies for tourism. The dashboard is an interactive web platform, visualising statistical data and newly developed tourism indicators, organised under four areas: environmental impacts, digitalisation, socio-economic vulnerability, and basic tourism descriptors. The data and indicators can be consulted in two ways: through destination, where information is available for one single tourist destination (country or region), and through an indicator map view, where the user can see how a specific indicator varies across tourist destinations. The Dashboard is made available at its launch in all official EU languages through machine translation. How this Good Practice could be used/ transferred?
AITR: Italian Association for Responsable Tourism (AITR: Associazione Italiana Turismo Responsabile)
AITR focuses on advocating for responsible tourism practices. They work with tourism operators, businesses, and local communities to encourage sustainable tourism development, minimize negative impacts on the environment and culture, and promote authentic and meaningful experiences for travelers. The association has been actively working in the field to promote responsible tourism, continuously striving to raise awareness and drive positive change in the tourism industry. The goal of the association is to promote responsible tourism in Italy. They strive to create a sustainable tourism industry that respects the environment, supports local communities, and preserves cultural heritage. AITR has successfully raised awareness about responsible tourism among tourism operators, businesses, and travelers in Italy. Through their initiatives, it has influenced the adoption of sustainable practices by tourism businesses, leading to reduced environmental impacts and greater support for local communities. The association has facilitated the creation of authentic and immersive tourism experiences that showcase Italy’s cultural heritage while respecting local traditions and customs.
Digital Academy of Tourism of Portugal / Academia Digital do Turismo de Portugal
The Digital Academy of Tourism of Portugal aims to promote the development of people and the qualification of companies, through training, workshops and seminars, or even joining tailor-made training services, provided by the 12 VET Schools (levels IV to VII EQF) of Tourism of Portugal. This platform will manage all executive training provided by Turismo de Portugal and its Schools, facilitating access to users, who, after an initial registration, will be able to enroll in all available actions and initiatives. This new solution aims to facilitate access to information, contribute to improving the training experience and, above all, the knowledge acquired.
Digital Diagnostic Tool for SMEs- UNWTO
The Small Business Digital Readiness Diagnostic, developed by UNWTO helps to find out how digitally ready your business is. The tool is designed especially for SMEs serving in the tourism sector. It will help them holistically assess their business across six key strategic dimensions, benchmark themselves against industry best practices, and obtain expert recommendations to, no matter where they currently are on their digital journey.
TourCert
The TourCert certification is granted to tour operators, accommodations, destinations and other tourism businesses with high economical, ecological and social responsibility. The TourCert system strives to impact the entire process and the company’s continuous development on the way to a sustainable future. The key of the implementation is “empowerment“, which means building learning structures and being jointly committed to business development. TourCert awards the TourCert Check as an introduction to the topic of sustainability in tourism (“Tourcert Qualified”) and the third party audited “TourCert Certificate”. All criteria catalogues of TourCert are based on the international quality and environmental management standards according to ISO and EMAS as well as the ISO guidelines for corporate responsibility (ISO 26000) and are also oriented to the international regulations of the Global Sustainable Tourism Council