The project “Promotion of sustainable rural tourism to revitalize the emptied Spain” aims to increase the knowledge and skills of workers of entities linked to rural tourism so that they can offer differentiated sustainable products that increase their attractiveness, boost tourism activity and mitigate rural depopulation. Both objectives are in line with the priorities of the Ministry for Ecological Transition and, in addition, the project is part of the strategies of the High Commissioner for the 2030 Agenda and the Spanish Network for Sustainable Development, which has as one of its lines of action to help governments in the diagnosis of local sustainable development challenges.

The work will be addressed through training and advice:

1. Creation of working groups with participative but directed sessions in which all the actors mentioned above participate to detect needs and barriers, face problems and find consensual and coordinated solutions. 5 face-to-face counselling sessions of 5 hours will be organised, one in each of the 5 Autonomous Communities where we are going to develop the project, aimed at a total of 66 recipients.

2. Courses on policies and actions for the transformation of rural tourism towards a model of environmental and social sustainability. There will be 5 distance training courses of 2 hours aimed at about 25 people (5 for each Autonomous Community) representatives of public institutions, administrations and companies and entities of the rural tourism sector of the 5 Autonomous Communities where we are going to work. These participants will be some of the same people who later participate in the personalized counseling, so that these recipients do not count towards the total number of net participants.

3. More personalised remote advice aimed at establishments and companies in the rural tourism sector, local development associations, administration and other related entities (some of them also participating in the face-to-face sessions but with different people) to address their business transformation, incorporating structural changes in their business models, taking a turn towards the green economy and committing to sustainability. This advice per recipient will also be provided in the 5 Autonomous Communities aimed at a total of 43 recipients.

Specifically, with this project we will work focusing on the following regions, with a total of 109 recipients who will receive technical training, advice and guidance to improve their capacities to face the transformation process:

· Andalusia (Almeria, Jaen, Granada, Cordoba, Malaga, Seville, Cadiz and Huelva).· Castilla-La Mancha (Guadalajara, Toledo, Cuenca, Ciudad Real and Albacete).· Extremadura (Cáceres and Badajoz).· Madrid.· Murcia.

If you are interested in knowing more about the project, send us an email to tecnico@copade.org or call us on 914 155 405.