Local mindset and behaviour development for competitive community-based tourism by increasing digital and green competences of tourism labour force in offbeat destinations

The EU tourism sector is evolving, favoring short domestic trips and offbeat destinations over mass tourism. Community-based ecotourism is gaining importance, emphasizing local community development and sustainability. However, this approach often lacks attention in tourism agendas. Offbeat destinations, found in rural areas, are on the rise, offering diverse tourism experiences and supporting local communities and the environment. But, greener and more digital approaches are needed in their development, currently run by small businesses. To address these challenges, the RE-CONNECT project aims to enhance community-based tourism skills in offbeat destinations. It will create a toolkit for circular tourism competence, involving various stakeholders. This project aligns with environmental sustainability and climate goals, promoting a greener and more digital tourism ecosystem.

The primary goal of the Re-Connect project is to address specific needs and challenges by creating and implementing a comprehensive toolkit focused on enhancing competence and fostering behavioral changes in circular tourism for local communities. The project aims to involve various stakeholders, including tourism labor forces at operators, local SMEs, NGOs, suppliers, local government entities, and tourists. Aligned with priorities such as environmental sustainability, climate objectives, and digital advancements, the project endeavors to elevate the skills of local tourism communities in offering more environmentally conscious and digitally enhanced tourism products and services by: Establishing a robust interregional digital ecosystem among local tourism communities centered on circular tourism. Enhancing the preparedness and expertise of tourism labor forces in achieving climate-neutral tourism specifically in lesser-known destinations. Creating a knowledge repository to expedite the collaborative development of innovative products and services.

Three main activities were implemented in the project. Firstly, the creation of an online interactive HUB, which includes the technical implementation and the creation of useful content and features. Second, the development of a circular tourism training package focusing on a sustainable, digital, community-based approach. Doing this in a way that is more practical, understandable and easy to process. All this in an e-learning format to provide a more flexible learning format for stakeholders. Thirdly, the development of a knowledge package to support the use of the co-creation methodology, which can guide a tourism service provider step by step through the development of a new service or the improvement of an existing one. In addition to the above three main activities, dissemination activities and events were also carried out, such as a 4-day training course so-called bootcamp in Lithuania, to which project partners could bring with them tourism stakeholders.

The concrete results of the project: An established online interactive HUB, which is functional for the sharing and exchange of ideas, an interactive circular tourism forum, an online evaluation database of sustainable tourism offers. It facilitates remote interactive teamwork and is a community gathering tool. It includes a knowledge and good practice bank from all over Europe, training materials on circular tourism and a co-creation guide. By the end of the project we had reached 203 registered users. A 40-hour training package that includes a practical, green and digital approach to circular tourism, which was completed by 185 learners by the end of the project with a certificate. A co-creation methodology guide that can be used in practice, on the basis of which the partnership has carried out 6 project development exercises. Through multiplier events, almost 200 people in 5 countries have been exposed to the results of the project. More than 30 people were able to learn and test the curriculum developed through a 4-day training in Lithuania.