Digital and Sustainable Transition in Tourism: Training Academic Staff for the Future

Last week, as part of the GDI project (Activity 2.2.), we conducted two practical workshops with invited experts from the field. These workshops primarily highlighted the current state of sustainable and digital transitions in tourism. The workshop content was designed for the educational staff of UP FTŠ Turistica, who are integrating sustainable and digital competencies into their curricula for various courses as part of the GDI project. This requires the introduction of appropriately updated content needed to achieve the digital and sustainable competencies of future graduates from UP FTŠ Turistica.

On Wednesday, November 13, 2024, we held the workshop titled "Implementing Digital Technologies in Tourism Operations". Four field experts presented concrete examples of using digital tools and related digital competencies needed by employees in various roles within different tourism companies.

Presentations were carried out by Urška Starc Peceny (Head of Tourism 4.0 at Arctur), who has extensive experience in business communication, storytelling about innovations, and tourism advancements; Aleksandra Jerebic Topolovec (Slovenian Tourist Board), Head of Digital Marketing at Slovenia.info, the official tourism portal of the Slovenian Tourist Board (STO); Matej Kalan (Co-founder and CEO of Forward), a digital architect and strategist specializing in marketing, sales distribution, and increasing direct bookings in tourism; Matevž Straus (Program Manager at Heritage+ at Arctur), an expert in 3D digitization (laser scanning and photogrammetry), 3D modeling, digital heritage interpretation, VR/AR applications, and advanced research activities. After concise presentations, the attendees worked in groups, selecting an expert based on their subject needs. Together, they explored specific opportunities for incorporating digital content into individual course curricula. They also discussed involving students in internships with relevant companies.

On Friday, November 15, 2024, we hosted Martina Drakulić, Corporate Social Responsibility Manager at TÜV Austria Group. She led a workshop highlighting the main challenges tourism faces in sustainable development, in light of the EU Green Deal and UNWTO Agenda 2030 goals. She emphasized that climate change is embedded in all certification standards and systems she encounters in daily practice. Modern trends in sustainable tourism development demand continuous employee training and acquisition of relevant competencies. New knowledge is required in areas like understanding climate change impacts and necessary adaptation measures, achieving energy efficiency, and promoting social responsibility and interdisciplinary collaboration—particularly for implementing complex investments eligible for EU grants and loans. Successful project execution increasingly depends on meeting Green Deal requirements, which are also prerequisites for funding calls from the Ministry of Economy, Tourism, and Sports. She underscored the importance of circular economy principles, biodiversity, and adherence to social responsibility standards covered by various certification systems, and presented certification as a long-term process of implementing sustainability in tourism. Drakulić also stressed the need to train tourism employees in sustainability reporting under the CSRD Directive, which will first apply to large companies and later to SMEs. To this end, she introduced an online tool for SMEs to self-assess their sustainability orientation, developed by the Slovenian Entrepreneurship Fund.

These workshops are a significant step in aligning the educational process with the challenges of sustainable and digital transitions in tourism. With insights and concrete proposals from field experts, the staff gained valuable knowledge to update curricula and integrate digital and sustainable content. This knowledge will enable them to more effectively foster competencies required by modern tourism, contributing to a more sustainable and digitally literate tourism industry.