The learning program “#04_ Sustainable Tourism and Mobility for the Mediterranean” addresses jointly sustainable tourism issues during four modules and then the fifth and last one focuses specifically on sustainable mobility in tourist destinations.

In the first four modules of this learning program, delivered by Nagore Uresandi – PhD in Business Competitiveness and Territorial Development and CEO of IN2Destination, we will provide an understanding from theory and real practice of what sustainable tourism is, what challenges destinations sustainability, also deepening on overtourism concept, how destinations are addressing it nowadays, or how they are anticipating to it. As part of the learning program, real destinations will present their challenges and how they are addressing these. Besides, since a long time has passed since the very first mention of sustainable development back in 1987, many global frameworks have emerged, such as SDGs, European Green Deal, Glasgow Declaration, European Tourism Information System and the Global Sustainable Tourism Council, among others, and these will be critically analyzed to understand how they contribute, advantages and challenges of their implementation.

Moreover, many destinations not only are pursuing to be sustainable but also smart, this concept and its application will be introduced and challenged for learners to critically think on how to make the most out of these frameworks. Then, it is critical to question how to make this long-lasting commitment to sustainability feasible overtime, here tourism destination governance practices and funding programmes will be presented for learners to familiarize with the tools and possibilities.

Finally, the fifth module, delivered by Ioanna Pagoni – PhD in Civil & Transportation Engineer, will focus on mobility presenting traditional and innovative practices to ensure sustainable mobility in tourism destinations. It will start with the definition of sustainable mobility, followed by the presentation of the challenges of mobility in tourism destinations. Other topics that will be discussed include people’s mode choice in tourism destinations, as well as specific case studies that have been implemented around Europe along with their impact on sustainability.

A focus on three best practices will be done, namely, Mobility as a Service (MaaS), active mobility and the use of smartphone apps to promote sustainable mobility in tourism destinations (e.g. provision of incentives to nudge travellers towards sustainable transport modes). For each practice, the results from real implementations will be presented, as well as the challenges of implementation and the potential impact on sustainability.

FORMAT

The learning program is structured in five modules of one week each, for a total of 15h of participants engagement: 4h of video contents, plus reading time, interactive exercises and working activities. Beside the courses, there will be live-conferences with guest speakers to facilitate peer-to-peer exchanges and networking.

WHO SHOULD ATTEND

As tourism is a cross-cutting economic sector the learning programme is most suitable for regional and local public authorities, destination management organisations, local public transport authorities, investors in new mobility services, practitioners of the blue economy, community-based associations and NGOs, social entrepreneurs, edutainment companies and whoever might wish to be engaged in this sector. We recommend the participation of mid-level career experts, civil servants and entrepreneurs to fully benefit from the exchanges and the hands-on experiences of destinations embarking on addressing challenges to sustainability, overtourism and climate change. However, early career professionals can surely benefit from a unique opportunity to become part of a community of practice and to bring to the module a fresh look and enrich the exchanges.

LEARNING OUTCOMES

• What is Sustainable Tourism in theory and practice, what is overtourism, how to develop sustainable tourism, how to prevent overtourism and how to address challenges to sustainability, with real practical cases of destinations suffering from diverse challenges.
• You will learn about global frameworks (SDGs, European Green Deal, Glasgow Declaration, European Tourism Information System and the Global Sustainable Tourism Council,...) that attempt to help and guide businesses and destinations to be more sustainable and will be able to question their implementation, and reflect on how to improve it, so that advances on tourism actually take place.
• Acquire knowledge about Smart Tourism Destinations, questioning why it makes sense for your destination (and the businesses within it) to work towards being smart, and how to advance to achieve it/contribute to it.
• Understand the relevance of good governance across the board for securing willingness and funding to develop sustainable tourism, as well as learning about public funding opportunities. 
• Understand the challenges of mobility within tourism destinations and explore how innovative solutions could contribute towards sustainable mobility. Specific solutions from different case studies will be presented.

HOW TO ENROL

The courses are free and open-access, you simply have to:

1/ click on Enrol in the learning program presentation page

2/ create your account, and do not forget the confirmation email

Enjoy your learning and for further information you can reach out to us via the contact form