The main objective of the RuralTour project:
To contribute to the sustainable rural tourism targets at the European level by developing the skills of business owners, managers, employees, VET students and potential entrepreneurs in the rural tourism sector through an innovative and easily accessible training platform.
Starting point of the RuralTour Project:
Tendency to rural tourism as alternative tourism is increasing in Turkey as well as in Europe. According to the estimates, the share of rural tourism in total tourism revenues in Europe is around 15% and shows a continuous increase. Important rural tourism activities are carried out Europe-wide. Small and medium-sized hotels, restaurants, village houses, etc. are active in the rural tourism sector especially in the form of family-run businesses. In addition to structural deficiencies, there is a significant lack of trained human resources in this sector. In the direction of the principles of Erasmus+ Program, it is necessary to provide training opportunities for the people working in the rural tourism sector in order to gain new skills, strengthen their personal development, and increase employment opportunities. For these reasons, to contribute to the development of the rural tourism sector, 8 organizations with different backgrounds from 6 European countries set up a strong partnership to achieve the objectives of the RuralTour Project within the context of Erasmus+Program.
To reach the objectives of the RuralTour Project, we will create;
-
A rural tourism sector report by analyzing the current situation of the rural tourism sector in the partner countries: The purpose of this output is to identify the potential of rural tourism in the partner countries and especially in the regions where the project partner institutions are located, to conduct SWOT analysis for the sector, to identify the main drawbacks of the rural tourism sector and to determine the training needs of the owners and employees of tourism enterprises, and other sector stakeholders.
-
For rural tourism:
-
1–The curriculum and educational material will be developed for the training of VET school students and employees.
-
2-A training material will be prepared both for business owners, managers of hotels, restaurants, entertainment centres operating in the rural tourism sector and for potential entrepreneurs.
-
A best practice book and good practices video to disseminate the successful rural tourism practices: A book of good practices and good practice videos including partner countries’ applications will be prepared to be good practices for the existing business owners and employees, potential entrepreneurs, and for rural tourism students.
-
An E-Learning Platform on the Project Website: Training programs will be elaborated within the scope of the project according to the needs of target groups defined in the project and the training modules regarding developed training materials will be available on the E-learning platform.
-
Put Android application for the E-learning platform into use: In order to increase the effectiveness of the e-learning platform, two mobile applications will be developed to enable access to the training program by smartphones and tablets (Android systems).
-
Training and multiplying activities that we will organize;
-
1-Learning/Teaching/Training Activities: A 5-day activity will be organized on rural tourism in Spain for training and exchange of experience of the related staff of the partner institutions.
-
2-Multiplying activities: Following the development of all intellectual outputs, 8 multiplier 2-day training activities for target groups in different levels will be held in Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Romania, Spain, and Turkey (2 events). In addition, an informative one-day conference with the participation of 100 tourism industry stakeholders from different provinces will be held in Turkey