Two weeks after the first set of training modules being delivered to the Italian SME beneficiaries, the selected 23 SMEs representing the hospitality and restaurant sectors will attend two more training modules on 7 and 8 April in Rome.
The modules will be provided by Sistemi Fomativi Confindustria and the Sardinian Autonomous Region with the support from the Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies.
The first module of the two will explore existing best practices and case studies in the field of sustainable tourism. This session is dedicated to motivate and inspire the participants to take a step towards an effective implementation of sustainable best practices and identify which specific activities are more suitable to be to carry out in their business. Thanks to a report published last year within the project’s framework, the training session will include various aspects of environmental sustainability tourism entities can address, such as mobility, waste management, facility management, construction and more.
The training session will have also two specific sub-sessions: one focused on the topic of the food waste, analysing the current legislation and the practices adopted to reduce this environmental impact and the second focused on Green Procurement in order to increase the knowledge of the participant SMEs on how to manage in an effective way the supply chain. During this session there will be the opportunity to host some guest speakers in order to provide the experience of a tourism organisation particularly advanced in the field of sustainable tourism.
Finally, the training session will include an interactive session, where the participating SMEs will be asked to draft a sustainability plan. The plan will envisage the improvements to implement and the actions to put into practice in the short or long run. The actions will be realistic and proportionate respect to the structure, the financial capacity and the dimension of the SME concerned. Once the plans are defined, they will be presented and discussed with other participants.
The second module will be somewhat even more interactive as it would imply thematic tables on sustainable tourism. This training session foresees three parallel training sessions in order to go in depth with some topics that have been selected by the participating SMEs during the selection and pre-registration to these training sessions. The three parallel training session will be on 3 of the 4 the following topics:
- Supply chain management: green procurement in the tourism sector.
- Corporate social responsibility and sustainable reporting.
- Waste management with a focus on food waste.
- Green marketing and green communication in the tourism sector
Each SME will participate in the selected thematic table, where a facilitator/trainer will explore the sustainable practice with examples of practical solutions. The individual experiences of the SMEs will be shared and discussed. The facilitator/trainer will lead the work of the group and stimulate the sharing of ideas, suggestions and solutions. Participants will define the practical aspects and identify the priority tools, roles, time, resources needed to implement the sustainable practice in their reality.
