The development of a sustainable tourism industry is a crucial step in Europe’s transition towards a more ecologically friendly mode of living. Uncontrolled mass tourism can damage the local environment, culture, and cohesion of local communities. The solution is not to prevent tourists from travelling, instead efforts should be made to promote more sustainable modes of tourism.
The ECHO Tourism project is working towards this goal, and this week the third training programme was hosted by CESIE in Palermo, engaging a variety of international stakeholders in the tourism sector which focussed on the education of a number of eco-sustainable actions and good practices to be adopted in the management of tourism services and activities. The training was built upon the methods developed by the ECHO Tourism project, wherein participants were educated on the project’s approach and shown how to take advantage of the many tools that have already been developed. This included introductions to the online training material, as well as a crash course on how to the use the energy consumption tracker.
The training programme focussed on a participatory approach, and attendees were encouraged to provide examples of their own experiences of working in the tourism sector. This allowed the sessions to act as an educational opportunity for the project, providing lessons to be implemented in the future as it begins to adapt itself towards a full roll-out of its tools and materials to all partner countries. This back and forth dialogue concluded with the participants developing an ECHO Tourism action strategy that will be transferred to their home countries, spreading the sustainable good practices across Europe.
The event was topped off by a larger conference/multiplier event, where a number of local actors and experts in the tourism sector were able to present their ideas and initiatives to the audience. This was an amazing learning opportunity, where participants were shown examples of sustainable tourism projects that have already been successfully implemented, as well as presentations from educational experts highlighting the largest challenges to be overcome if a successful transition to sustainable tourism is to be made.
A number of educational materials are already live on the project website! Get involved now and begin your own transition to a more sustainable lifestyle: https://echo-tourism.eu/.
K
eep following the ECHO Tourism project to stay informed about our future training opportunities! Contact: laura.lascala@cesie.org.
About the project
ECHO-Tourism is cofinanced by Erasmus+ programme: Key Action 2, Strategic partnerships Adult Education. ECHO-Tourism involves both tourism professionals and tourists to achieve greener and more sustainable tourism and adopt responsible environmental practices.
Partners
- Les 7 Vents (France, coordinator)
- CESIE (Italy)
- Mesogeiako Kentro Perivallontos (Greece)
- Udruga za otocni razvoj Brac (Croatia)
- Laurent Gounel, IniSeo (France)
For further information
Read more about ECHO-Tourism, see the project website echo-tourism.eu and follow us on Facebook.
Contact Laura La Scala: laura.lascala@cesie.org.
