The InRuTou project aims to support sustainable rural tourism development in mountainous areas of Europe. It works with partners across the Alps, Apennines, and Carpathian regions to develop tools and training to address the lack of skills and knowledge around tourism resource management. The project is testing its approaches in pilot sites in Austria, Romania, Poland, Ukraine and Italy, and will develop educational resources to transfer its training methods to other areas seeking to improve rural tourism.

1. www.inrutou.eu
Innovation in Rural Tourism in the
Carpathians and other mountain
areas
TEEM Conference 2014
Technological Ecosystems for Enhancing Multiculturality
University of Salamanca| October 2, 2014
The project InRuTou has been funded with support from the European Commission.

2. www.inrutou.eu
Project background – the problem
• Lack of knowledge about valorisation, entrepreneurship,
management, promotion of tourism resources, New Media
• Lack of specified vocational educational training (VET)
opportunities.
The project InRuTou has been funded with support from the European Commission.
September 25, 2014

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Rural Tourism
• Economical, social
and environmental
benefits
The project InRuTou has been funded with support from the European Commission.
September 25, 2014

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New Media
• Better access and
operations in tourism
markets
• Rural tourism strategies
• Promotion of attractions
• Exchange of
information with clients
and partners
The project InRuTou has been funded with support from the European Commission.
September 25, 2014

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Education and training (VET)
• Facilitates qualified
abilities
• Enhances
competitiveness on
the global market.
The project InRuTou has been funded with support from the European Commission.
September 25, 2014

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InRuTou Aims and Goals
• Supporting sustainable, community-based tourism
development
• Creating tourism capacities based on local needs
• Providing new skills and competencies to rural tourism
managers
GOALS
•Developing and testing a set of tools and innovative models
•Training of selected opinion leaders to act as multipliers in
enhancing community tourism planning
– to ensure durability
The project InRuTou has been funded with support from the European Commission.
September 25, 2014

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InRuTou Project consortium
 IMC University of Applied Sciences Krems
(AT)
 SOPHIA Research & Innovation (IT)
 Bournemouth University (GB)
 Associazione Seed (CH)
 EURAC - European Academy of Bolzano (IT)
 UNEP Vienna Interim Secretariat of
Carpathian Convention (AT)
 ROMONTANA - National Association for
Mountains Rural Development (RO)
 Ecopsychology Society (PL)
 Information Center “Green Dossier” (UA)
The project InRuTou has been funded with support from the European Commission.
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Europe_relief_laea_location_map.jpg
September 25, 2014

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Geographical focus
• the Alps
• the Apennines
• the Carpathians
The project InRuTou has been funded with support from the European Commission.
September 25, 2014
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Europe_relief_laea_location_map.jpg

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Pilot Areas
• AT: Nationalpark Kalkalpen
Region Ennstal & Steyrtal
• RO: Dorna country
• PL: Beskidy mountain range
• UA:
– Storozhynestky rayon,
Chrnivtci oblast
– Kosiv district
• IT: Parco Dell’Aveto, Ligurian
The project InRuTou has been funded with support from the European Commission.
Apennines
September 25, 2014 9

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Project Activities
The project InRuTou has been funded with support from the European Commission.
 Understanding
the Local Needs

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Background and context analysis
• Community consultations in pilot areas
• Identifying success factors, challenges and potentials
The project InRuTou has been funded with support from the European Commission.
September 25, 2014

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Involvement of target groups
The project InRuTou has been funded with support from the European Commission.
Sept. 2014
September 25, 2014

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Learning objectives and tools
• A set of digital tools and learning contents,
delivered
– in open educational resources (OER) and open software
licences (Open Source)
• Pedagogical model for local tourism developers
(E-learning & Sharing Platform)
• Operational Digital Tools
The project InRuTou has been funded with support from the European Commission.
September 25, 2014

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The project InRuTou has been funded with support from the European Commission.
September 25, 2014

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The project InRuTou has been funded with support from the European Commission.
September 25, 2014 15

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Examples from Poland,
Romania and Ukraine
The project InRuTou has been funded with support from the European Commission.
September 25, 2014

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Next Steps & Cooperation
• Second Training of the Trainers in Austria
The project InRuTou has been funded with support from the European Commission.
– October 3-4, 2014
• Finalization and translation of the training materials
• Finalization of the pilot testing
• Networking conference in Vienna, Austria
– May/June 2015
• Final Conference in Poland
– November 2015

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Follow-up via WG on Sustainable
Tourism
• Transfer of the InRuTou training to all Carpathian countries
– Other regions of Poland, Romania, Ukraine
– Czech Republic, Hungary, Serbia, Slovak Republic
The project InRuTou has been funded with support from the European Commission.

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Follow-up …
• Involve Carpathian Convention partners from other areas
– Protected areas, CNPA, WWF
– Cultural Heritage
– Youth involvement and participation – ACUNS
– Education and training – RCE, UNIDO
– Research – S4C
• Build on other projects:
The project InRuTou has been funded with support from the European Commission.

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Thank you! Silvia.francario@gmail.com
The project InRuTou has been funded with support from the European Commission.
October 2, 2014