Line of action:

Terrestrial ecosystems

Status:

En ejecución

Execution date:

2025

End date:

2026 Related call

The tourism sector accounts for 12.8% of GDP, and is facing a huge problem of availability of adequately trained professionals. Likewise, working conditions and high seasonality are deterrents to the labour market. On the other hand, the new environmental and social challenges and opportunities that the ecological transition and the coexistence between inhabitants and visitors demands, is forcing companies linked to tourism to transform and create new sustainable experiences. This transformation is not a voluntary gesture of responsibility: legal obligations, costs associated with limited resources and waste management, social pressure and changes in passenger demand require urgent adaptation. For many small organizations, this transition is tremendously complicated if done individually.

These challenges also represent opportunities for growth for those with specific training in these areas, whether they are active workers or job seekers. The very nature of these activities favours access to groups with lower employability (ethnic minorities, people with disabilities, women and young people). It is also an opportunity for growth for areas with demographic challenges (rural areas or small municipalities), highly dependent on primary economies, which can develop economically through green tourism.

It is necessary to create spaces where these challenges can be identified and resolved, promoting projects that create sustainable wealth and attractive jobs, recycling or incorporating new trained professionals, and supporting entrepreneurship and green employment in disadvantaged territories, and transforming the activity in the most mature destinations.

To increase the competitiveness of the tourism sector by promoting education in social and environmental values by creating a network of centres that promote the culture of sustainability through the training of professionals in the sector.

The project proposes to open work centers in 6 Autonomous Communities (Andalusia, Madrid, Catalonia, Extremadura, Castilla la Mancha and the Canary Islands), which will be added to the existing one in the Balearic Islands. By 2025, the activity will begin in Catalonia, specifically in Costa Daurada. Each of the centres will have a full-time coordinator responsible for developing the centre, and coordinating with the rest of the network. In each of the centers, work will be carried out in three phases:

1. Selection of spaces: Inspiring spaces are identified, in which the effects of sustainability on the environment and the local community are evident; Priority will be given to locations with easy access from rural locations, with demographic challenges, or belonging to the Natura 2000 network. e.g. in the case of Costa Daurada, Ca La Torre, in the municipality of Hospitalet de L’Infant-Vandellós, has been chosen.
2. Building alliances: Participation agreements will be signed with local administrations, chambers of commerce, business associations and the third sector, involving them in the definition of priorities, and in the dissemination of the program so that workers and the unemployed can join; e.g. in Mallorca we collaborate with the Consell, chamber of commerce, university, federations of hotels, transport and agencies, as well as with the Red Cross, Impulsa igualdad and Fundación Aspas
3. Design and launch of the program of activities: Throughout the year there will be a program of activities for the training of people, in three categories:

a) Training (Nest Training): Hybrid model, which combines individualized study on an online platform, technical webinars, and face-to-face workshops. The training package will include an evaluation and recognition system that facilitates students’ access to more qualified positions in relation to green and sustainable tourism.

b) Communities of practice (Nest Working days): Thematic project tables in which problems and opportunities around ecological transition, social development and coexistence are addressed. The activatable tables will include, among other topics, decarbonisation, water use, circularity, experiences in green and blue tourism, ESG reporting, local agri-food production, accessible tourism and energy efficiency. Multidisciplinary teams will participate in these tables, made up of workers from SMEs and large companies, unemployed people and students of related degrees, as well as specialists in the topics discussed. In each project, academic documents and guides to good practices (White Papers) will be developed and entrepreneurship will be supported in viable projects, through other Green & Human tools.

c) Awareness and relationship (Agoras): Open days in which related topics will be discussed, success stories will be presented, and the initiatives activated will be given a voice. These are spaces where participants in the Nest network will be able to acquire ESG-related soft skills, broaden their career horizons, and interact with other organizations in search of talent. A large kick-off event is planned for each centre (Agora Nest). These days will also be spaces in which to promote small local entrepreneurs, with exhibitions of food products or local crafts, or presentation of sustainable tourism experiences.

CONNECTION AND DISSEMINATION:
The ambition of the project goes beyond providing skills to those attending the program. The ultimate goal of Nest ESG is to generate new job opportunities, launch sustainable economic activities in local territories, promote the generation of demand for sustainable tourism services in source markets to help green and responsible socio-economic growth and, through this growth, improve the deseasonalisation and diversification of tourism activity.

To this end, the project foresees actions to connect and disseminate the achievements, on two levels:
– Coordinating the activity between the different Nest centres, transferring knowledge between spaces, and favouring the mobility of people who want to join or start a business, and the expansion of initiatives.
– Connecting the project with the network of more than 120 Green & Human associates, from which intense communication activity is carried out, while monitoring funding opportunities, streamlining recruitment processes, and connecting entities with an interest in developing projects.