Storytelling in tourism for social inclusion: the last meeting of TSITOUR

Feb 28, 2022 | News

On February 24th and 25th 2022 the partners of the TSITour project met in Espinho, Portugal, for the last Transnational Meeting before the conclusion of the project.

Due to the Covid 19 pandemic, in recent months the TSITour project partners have met online to monitor project progress, so this meeting was an opportunity to decide the last steps by meeting in person.

During these days, the activities implemented so far were discussed, evaluating the quality of the results produced and establishing the next steps for the conclusion of the last activity: the publication of the “Professional training module on the development of projects in the field of social inclusion – Tourism as a case study”

In the past year, the pilot phase of the TSITour training course on how to structure and follow a social inclusion project in the tourism sector was conducted in each partner country, involving elderly people and students from the social and welfare area. The students attended the training course and subsequently the projects they conceived were carried out in all countries with the support of organizations active in the tourism sector and social organizations that let their elderly users participate. The aim was to test the methodology of storytelling in the tourism sector to reintegrate the elderly into the community by making them bearers of history, culture and traditions linked to local places and, at the same time, to support the tourism sector by giving tourists more authentic experiences.

During the last transnational meeting, the activities carried out with the students and the elderly were therefore discussed and the stock of the situation was taken on the creation of a Pool of elderly volunteers that can continue to replicate the activities in each partner country. The managerial and financial aspects of the project were addressed, the quality of the results assessed, and the next multiplier and dissemination events planned.

Finally, the meeting was also an opportunity to discuss upcoming opportunities for collaboration on the theme of tourism as a driving force for social inclusion, given the positive and quality results produced by the consortium.

TSITour – Training on Social Inclusion in Tourism, by including elderly people as local storytellers for the Tourism Industry is cofunded by the Erasmus + program (Key Action 2: Strategic Partnerships | Vocational Education and Training) and aims to create a new training course in vocational education and training focused on developing storytelling skills in the elderly to socially include them in the society.

PARTNERS