ENRICHER hubs

The project will accelerate the twin (green and digital) transition to boost the recovery of the European tourism industry by identifying skills and competence mismatches between Higher education institutions (HEIs) and the labour market.

The project addresses current challenges posed by megatrends like sustainable development and digitalisation, including the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the travel and tourism industry.

The project implements the following activities:

1. Identifying skills and competence gaps between HEIs and the labor market in the context of climate change and sustainable tourism development, and the shift towards a digital economy by facilitating knowledge exchange between nine HEI partners in Finland, Austria, Italy, Georgia and Moldova through transformation of higher education in tourism.
2. Developing innovative training and teaching activities to upgrade competences about service development for sustainable tourism, foster a business mindset, and increase service design thinking to develop competences for green tourism service development.
3. Establishing Green Tourism Hubs at partner HEIs in Georgia and Moldova to spread knowledge and best practices about sustainable tourism, innovative learning approaches, methods, and tools of service design, as well as tools for business development to the surrounding society and region.

A coordinated approach at European level is required to transform higher education in tourism in Georgia and Moldova by introducing new teaching and learning methods aiming at not only enhancing the knowledge about sustainable tourism and new concept development but to offer concrete competences and tools that students can use in the industry after graduation.