E.E.F.Ect-European Education Fostering Ecotourism
Description
The relationship between ecotourism and education is one which is concerned with ensuring that agencies deliver effective interpretations of environmental, cultural and resource management values. Education in this context is more than just a one-way transfer of information. It is about explanation, stimulation, provocation, revelation and understanding in a manner that personally involves the professionals and ecotourists.
Title: E.E.F.Ect – European Education Fostering Ecotourism
Running dates: September 2017 – August 2019
Programme: Erasmus+ KA2 Strategic Partnerships | Adult Education
ID number: 2017-1-IT02-KA204-036713
Website: https://eefect.eu/
However, this is the challenge of interpretation and a key goal for ecotourism,i.e., to enhance people’s attitudes and actions towards their environment.In this context and after a deep SWOT analysis made in each partner country, all of them with a great touristic potential, revealed common weaknesses and needs in the field of the ecotourism development:
- Natural-geographical environment: low interest to diminish the pollution, weak implementation of environmental legislation, misuse of forest fund, poorly spreading of points of collection and recycling of wastes.
- Traditional-cultural environment, insufficient investments for the development and promotion of cultural objectives, absence of databases and calendars of cultural events, poor implementation of legislation on the conservation of historic buildings.
- Technical and technological environment: lack of waste facilities in numerous tourist centers, lack of suitable and sanitary facilities in numerous tourist attractions, limited access of persons with disabilities at hotels, motels, tourist stops and places of tourist attraction, lack of tourist information, poor use of alternative energy sources.
- Social environment: vocational training in the tourism sector doesn’t correspond to the needs of employers, lack of continuous training courses in remote areas, low salaries and inadequate working conditions that favor labor migration from tourism, lack of development methods of professional careers in tourism, lack of a curricula in the field of environmental protection and ecotourism education.
- Political-legal environment: lack of public-private partnerships for ecotourism, lack of institutional structures for regional development of ecotourism;lack of support mechanisms for investors, linadequate implementation of legislation in the field of ecotourism and environmental protection.
- Economic environment: lack of marketing plans aimed at ecotourism, lack of virtual markets, Insufficient use of ICT to promote ecotourism development