The Foundation for European Sustainable Tourism (FEST), the European Travel Commission (ETC) and the UNWTO (World Tourism Organization) held their 5th annual Summer School in collaboration with the UNESCO MaB ‘Sila’ area in the southern part of Italy called Calabria.
The Summer School aimed to address one of the most important themes in the tourism industry: how to plan and deliver transformative tourism projects and initiatives to generate a sustainable visitor economy.
It also sought to bring together the industry’s key audiences including donors, representatives of European and International organisations, policy makers, destination managers, planners, industry representatives, project management practitioners, academics and entrepreneurs.
Held for the first time in a National Park – The Sila National Park, in the southern part of Italy called Calabria; the Summer School’s content was comprehensive; covering subjects like destination management, capacity building, sustainable tourism policies and public-private partnerships. This stimulated shared experiences and conversations on product development and carrying capacities.
The success of this Summer School has gone beyond expectations with the arrival of teachers and students from all corners of the world - from Ghana to Georgia, from the USA to the Caribbean. This was an event of international significance.
Given the importance of the event the MiBACT Undersecretary for Tourism, Dorina Bianchi, decided to take part in the works. Biancha greeted attendees by saying,
“As a Member of the Italian Parliament and as a member of the Government I intend to give my support to initiatives such as this one that go in the same direction we have taken for the adoption of slow and sustainable tourism models. We will pay attention to the strategic and operational ideas provided by the authorities and organizations intervened.”
An important announcement was also made at the Summer School: APMG’s Project Management for Sustainable Development (PM4SD) certification will now be offered online. This opens opportunities to those keen to get certified within the Sustainability Development sector across the world.
APMG accredited training organization (ATO) Jlag has partnered with TrainingAid, an international tourism e-learning company specialising in sustainable tourism to facilitate the online delivery of the certification. Silvia Barbone, Director of FEST in support of the online training said that, "Sustainable tourism projects must deliver benefits for all stakeholders and achieve lasting impacts and PM4SD offers a proven approach to effective project management, tailored specifically to the tourism sector.”
FEST has developed the PM4SD framework with an aim to empower project managers, policy makers and entrepreneurs with the right tools and techniques to better plan, manage and execute sustainable tourism projects ensuring long-term success.
Find out more about the PM4SD certification here.
