YOUTH TOUR - Youth networking towards sustainable tourism development

The project objective is to promote the common actions for development of sustainable tourism through reducing “Brain drain” and preventing the migration of young and skilled people in the cross-border region by acquiring new knowledge and skills.

Within the framework of the project, a joint cross-border club "YOUTH TOUR" is planned to be established in the two partner schools from Burgas, Bulgaria and Uzunkopru, Turkey. The members of the club will analyse and create a database of touristic objects from the region - historical monuments, places for accommodation and leisure, etc. They will popularize the club in the social media and will make survey for rating the most attractive touristic objects from the cross-border region.

An innovative platform YOUTH TOUR will be created. The platform will provide detailed information in various areas connected to tourism education, opportunities for young people and cross-border promotion. An event will be organized - a tourist online marketing conference (Camp), which will show the newest information on online tourism in an interesting way for young people. A photo exhibition is planned in Burgas, where students will take their memories from practical trainings in pictures and use them for joint cross-border photo exhibition named "Memories from our homelands".

A tourism fair for youth tourism will be organized by the Turkish partner. The exhibition will show the unique beauties of the cross-border region as well as its tourism potential as a base for development of sustainable tourism.

The results of the project are mainly social and economic - students getting to know more about their homeland and their neighbours from the other side of the border and raising awareness of the attractiveness of the cross-border region. The implementation of the project will contribute to attracting new tourists and presenting new opportunities for learning and training for young people oriented to the demands of the labour market in the cross-border region.

Project status: Finished

The project brought attention to a problem that requires cross-border cooperation from all stakeholders. Tourism is one of the world's largest employers and yet many communities are unsure of the benefits of tourism. The economic benefits are often the easiest to measure and the most effective, however the social and environmental benefits of tourism including protection of natural and cultural assets, support local events and cultural practices. The creation of joint cross-border club YOUTH TOUR in both schools was an innovative idea to make a practical research in the CB area including Burgas and Edirne and get to know important and famous tourist landmarks. These clubs had a series of lectures and visits in the CB region that had been a practical experience both in theory and in practice by trying to be tourist guides.

The project partners had worked together.  Students got to know more about their homeland and the CB region in general. The project partners had worked together on different initiatives Both partners had planned and implemented together each of the project activities. The project included joint staffing and joint management. Students from both schools were among the target groups in other projects. The joint work in the past had led to very good partnership and this is the reason why both partners wanted to continue their fruitful relations. The present project is a result of this cooperation, It had been developed jointly. Through the project the students had learned more about the cross-border region and practiced their language skills, but they also found new friends and partners and exchanged their experience. The main objectives of the project were to encounter youngsters by workshops. The exchange of ideas (brainstorming), the use of a variety of techniques to improve innovative thinking processes and web based activities, we aimed to inspire participants to think innovatively, rather than be dependent on the "status quo". The aim of this youth exchange is to directly address this issue with a focus on entrepreneurship and innovation. The barcamp in Edirne had shown in innovative and interesting way for the young people the latest information about the use of online tourism marketing and tools as photos, videos, blogs, articles, social media, etc.

All responsibilities and activities had been clearly split between the partners. The project had brought another benefit - it created a sense of respect and pride in the national and cross-border heritages. The platform had been possible due to the existing database for cross-border objects gathered by the students - members of the club YOUTH TOUR.  Once the platform YOUTH TOUR was ready and operational, the members of the club from both sides of the border started filling it will content. In order to get to know more about the cross-border region and to provide additional interesting information about the platform, partners had organised practical trainings in the cross-border region -  YOUTH TOUR. All the photos and the visited landmarks were uploaded in the facebook page as well as on the site of the project.

The project partners have implemented the activities according to the schedule.

Project website:

http://youthtour.eu/

Social media presence of the project:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gpaeburgas.org/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/TourYouth

Materials from the project:

Promotional materials elaborated under the project are available HERE.

Project leaflet (Turkish version) is available HERE.

Project products:

The Project logo is available HERE.

Presentations and lectures of the Youth club’s meetings in Burgas are available HERE.

Presentations of the Youth club’s meetings in Edirne are available HERE.

Presentations from the BARCAMP held in Uzunkopru on 19 March 2018 are available HERE.

Video recording link of the online marketing barcamp prepared is available HERE.