Context / background

D.G.TOUR project addresses two key challenges in tourism education at European level.
On the one hand, tourism is increasingly oriented towards innovative and engaging experiences, where Gamification and digital technologies such as Augmented Reality and Artificial Intelligence play a central role. As a result, future tourism professionals need strong creative and digital skills, which schools are required to provide.
On the other hand, the demand for accessible and inclusive tourism is steadily growing. Designing tourism experiences that respond to the needs of all visitors, including people with disabilities and those with specific access requirements, is both an ethical responsibility and a significant market opportunity.
To effectively address these challenges, schools offering tourism and ICT related courses need to strengthen their competences in digital innovation and accessibility. The D.G.TOUR project was designed to support this process.

Objectives

The D.G.TOUR project aims to:

• enhance digital and creative competences of teachers and students by developing new training content on the application of Gamification, Augmented Reality (AR), and Artificial Intelligence (AI) to create engaging and memorable tourism experiences;
• increase knowledge and awareness of accessibility and inclusion in tourism;
• introduce innovative and collaborative teaching methods combining tourism, ICT and digital creativity;
• improve students’ engagement, motivation and active participation in learning activities;
• enhance schools’ ability to cooperate at European level and exchange educational practices.

Activities and results

To achieve these objectives, the project foresees a set of coordinated activities and results implemented by six organisations from four European countries, involving secondary schools, training providers, digital experts and accessibility specialists.
The main outputs and activities include:

• the development of three training and support tools:
  • a Training Kit on the key components and design principles of Gamification;
  • a Training Kit on Accessible Tourism;
  • Guidelines for integrating accessibility issues within gamification processes;
• joint teacher training and knowledge exchange on digital innovation and accessibility, subsequently transferred to students through classroom activities and collaborative online sessions;
• the creation of a Gamification Toolkit: an open-source interactive platform, accessible via web and mobile app, allowing the design of gamified and personalised tourism itineraries aimed at enhancing local cultural heritage;
• experimentation and testing of the gamified tourism itineraries during mobility exchanges among partner schools in Italy, Greece and Romania, involving students, local authorities and tourism operators;
• the production of guidelines and a user manual for the Gamification Toolkit, supporting replicability and wider adoption;
• dissemination and exploitation of project results through eTwinning projects, national and international events, and multimedia communication tools (website, newsletters, videos and social media).