"<< Background >>Before the outbreak of Covid-19, the field of tourism and hospitality was one of the fastest growing industries at global level. The sector did not go through major arrests during the previous crisis but, despite these positive economic trends, it was already confronted with the need of addressing its negative impacts on communities and environment. Leading entities in the field such as the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) have remarked its connections with all the goals in the 2030 Agenda, stressing that tourism can be a powerful tool for sustainable development if it engages local populations and all key stakeholders. Fostering tourism transition towards more sustainable forms of tourism development and planning remains a crucial issue to be addressed (Gössling et al., 2020), for which specific skills need to be developed and chances of encounter need to be created. In fact, despite the importance recognized by scholars to participatory tourism planning processes in fostering sustainability at different levels and creating added value for all the stakeholders involved, the currently dominant destination management models are characterized by the lack of focus on destination residents as a legitimate and salient stakeholder group (Fiall A. and Garrod B., 2005). This ouster of locals and the scanty development of participatory tourism is due to several factors. Major obstacles are the lack of adequate knowledge and competences both in the case of professionals and residents, low levels of stakeholders’ awareness, uneven distribution of power, lack of coordination, meager presence of professionals entitled to manage destinations in an inclusive and holistic manner. This project aims to concretely tackle these issues and fill these gaps. The consortium will develop an innovative training course for professionals and residents. The course will be complemented by a participatory tourism laboratory through which they will be able to put in practice the knowledge acquired and use gamified methodologies to produce a participatory tourism product. GAP will offer a high-quality course and will create innovative transferable tools and methods. Through GAP, VET will be able to develop skills and competences usually required (but hard to find) by the so-called destination manager, a highly qualified professional figure of recent boost responsible for developing multi-stakeholder and multi-thematic strategies to control the economic, socio-cultural, and environmental dimensions of a specific tourism territory. In doing so, the project contributes to adapt vocational education and training to labour market needs and it also contributes to innovation in vocational education and training.<< Objectives >>GAP aims to foster the transition towards more sustainable models of tourism by developing learning tools that will help bridging the gaps and mitigating the factors that hamper their effective spread and implementation. GAP aims to pursue the following general objectives:- Fostering innovation and sustainability in tourism- Promoting tourism as a tool for individual and community development- Fostering participatory tourism and bottom-up promotion of territoriesThe consortium will contribute to the achievement of these general objectives by focusing on the following specific objectives:- Adapting vocational education and training of tourism professionals to labour market needs- Contributing to innovation in vocational education and training for tourism professionals- Increasing tourism professionals’ knowledge in the field of sustainable tourism planning and tourism gamification- Increasing the ability of tourism professionals of implementing participatory processes in tourism development- Raising stakeholders’ awareness concerning tourism sustainability- Increasing coordination and stakeholders’ involvement in tourism planning and development- Fostering civic engagement, sense of belonging and participation of residents to tourism developmentThe project expects to directly involve the following number of stakeholders at EU level:_10 experts in the field of participatory tourism/gamification_20 managers of inspiring practices in the field of participatory tourism/gamification_75 people in the category VET and residents involved in the pilot training_5 facilitators_50 people in the category VET and residents involved in the participatory lab_375 people in the category VET and residents involved in the online consultation foreseen during the participatory labs_125 people involved in the piloting of the urban game_170 people involved in the Multiplier EventsIndirectly, GAP impacts at local, national and EU level will affect also the following target groups, namely: _tourism students and tourism professionals interested in getting a theoretical and practical training on the topics of participatory tourism and gamification;_residents, that will learn more about a sector that contemporarily embeds and ignores them, have the chance to play an active role in this system and experience alternative forms of participation;_the 5 destinations involved, and the different types of actors they involve, such as public administrations, destination management and marketing organisations (DMMOs), private actors (tourism operators, tourism cooperatives, hospitality industries, tour operators), territories and tourists who will all benefit from higher visibility, more equally spread benefits and the possibility to access to new methodologies and learn more about new forms of tourism models;_other destinations at EU and international level since the materials will be available in 5 European languages as well as English;_tourism and gamification experts, as well as scholars that will have access to all the reports developed by the project;_VET centers, teachers and trainers interested in attending or replicating the learning path of the project to enlarge their offer with innovative programs in line with the needs of the sector;_the tourism sector, not only in terms of its labor market needs (lack of highly specialised figures in the industry capable to develop innovative solutions to manage complex, cross-thematic and multi-stakeholders processes taking into account environmental, economic and social sustainability issues) but also with respect to its role in the achievement of a transition towards more sustainable practices and its ability to contribute to the development of territories, generating and spreading value among all its stakeholders.<< Implementation >>GAP brings together 5 organisations with complementary expertise who will implement the following activities.PR1 - Research on participatory tourism and gamificationDuring this first phase of the project, the consortium will carry out research aimed at identifying inspiring practices in the field of participatory tourism and tourism gamification. The research will be performed under the guidance of Accademia IRSEI and it will help the partners in identifying 20 inspiring practices and gather the advices and opinions of experts and managers that have implemented these approaches. The consortium will gather this information on a final report that will be useful to provide stakeholders with an overview on the state of the art of participatory tourism and tourism gamification. The activities foreseen are:A1_Desk research on Tourism SustainabilityA2_Desk research on gamification in tourismA3_Development of the research guidelinesA4_Desk research for the identification of inspiring practicesA5_Interviews to expertsA6_Interviews to managersA7_Preparation of the country reportsA8_Preparation of the final reportPR2 - Fill the GAPBuilding on the results of PR1, the consortium will develop an online course for stakeholders in the field of participatory tourism, heritage and gamification under the guidance of Ergasia SA. This course will enable stakeholders to enhance their knowledge of the topic and it is aimed at addressing the need of more adequate training and increased awareness with respect to sustainability and innovation in tourism. The activities foreseen are:A1_ Creation of the online learning platformA2_Development of the general learning modules on sustainable and participatory tourism, heritage and gamificationA3_Development of the country specific learning module on local heritageA4_Pilot trainingPR3 - Participation in practiceIn this stage of the project, stakeholders will be involved in a series of workshops and laboratories referred to as “participatory labs”. VET and residents will work together under the guidance of a community facilitator in order to identify common needs, discuss their collective identity and co-create an urban game that will reflect the results of these workshops. Digital consultations for broader stakeholders involvement is envisaged. The urban game will be accessible thanks to the content storage system that will be created by Skills Divers. The whole system will consist of a mobile app where the users will be able to display the augmented touristic info. Mise Hero will be responsible for creating a set of gamified tools (including a brand new game specifically developed to facilitate participatory tourism processes) and an explicative guide to be used during the participatory labs. The game will be tested during a pilot event. At the end of the PR, the consortium will create a guide to foster the implementation of participatory approaches and gamification in tourism development processes. The activities foreseen are:A1_Technical development of the urban gameA2_Creation of gamified tools to facilitate stakeholders during the participatory labsA3_Development of the urban game technical guideA4_Development of the participatory labs guideA5_Participatory labsA6_Pilot eventA7_Creation of the guide for the use of gamification and participatory approaches in tourism destinations<< Results >>GAP brings together 5 organisations with complementary expertise who will cooperate to develop the following results and produce the following outcomes:PR1 - Research on participatory tourism and gamification (IRSEI)Outcomes: 1 working paper on Tourism sustainability, 1 working paper on gamification in Tourism, 1 methodological guide, 1 catalogue of 20 inspiring practices displaying 1 long information sheet + 1 short information sheet for each inspiring practice identified, 5 country reports presenting the results of collection of inspiring practices and interviews to experts (A5) and interviews to managers (A6), final Report ""Stakeholders’ involvement and gamification for sustainability and innovation in tourism development""PR2 - Fill the GAP (Ergasia SA)Outcomes: Online learning platform + Online course on participatory tourism, heritage and gamification made up of 4 modules (including a country specific one on local heritage) + 1 pilot reportPR3 Participation in practice (Skills Divers)Outcomes: 1 digital environment (content storage system and app) for the urban game + 1 set of facilitation games with explicative guide + 1 technical guide on the urban game functioning for stakeholders + 1 monitoring, evaluation and reporting guide for facilitators + 5 Urban games + 1 pilot report + Final report “How to use gamification and participatory approaches to foster sustainable tourism development”"