Forestur is a

pilot project A pilot experiment, pilot study, pilot test or pilot project is a small-scale preliminary study conducted to evaluate feasibility, duration, cost, adverse events, and improve upon the study design prior to performance of a full-scale research pr ...

, co-financed by the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

through the

Leonardo da Vinci Programme The Leonardo da Vinci programme is a European Commission funding programme focused on the teaching and training needs of those involved in professional education. The programme is part of the European Commission's Lifelong Learning Programme 200 ...

, aiming at increasing the skills of tourism professionals in

rural area In general, a rural area or a countryside is a geographic area that is located outside towns and cities. Typical rural areas have a low population density and small settlements. Agricultural areas and areas with forestry are typically desc ...

s by providing

lifelong learning Lifelong learning is the "ongoing, voluntary, and self-motivated" pursuit of learning for either personal or professional reasons. Lifelong learning is important for an individual's competitiveness and employability, but also enhances social in ...

services on-line.

Objectives of the project

The main objective of the project is to provide tourist professionals in rural areas with continuous, specific and high quality training adapted to their needs. Considering the isolation and tight schedules of people who work in rural areas,

Internet The Internet (or internet) is the Global network, global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a internetworking, network of networks ...

is the only reliable way to provide them with a proper training.

Information and Communication Technologies Information and communications technology (ICT) is an extensional term for information technology (IT) that stresses the role of unified communications and the integration of telecommunications (telephone lines and wireless signals) and compute ...

(ICT) can counteract the disadvantages of remote geographical locations. So, it becomes an ideal tool to reach

rural tourism Rural tourism is a form of tourism that focuses on actively participating in a rural lifestyle. It can be a variant of ecotourism, emphasizing sustainable practices and community involvement. Many villages can facilitate tourism because of the ho ...

employees. Forestur has also taken advantage of other ICT features that represent an alternative choice to traditional management for other sector companies. They offer a wider range for

advertising Advertising is the practice and techniques employed to bring attention to a Product (business), product or Service (economics), service. Advertising aims to present a product or service in terms of utility, advantages, and qualities of int ...

activities to simplify administrative work. In order to make the most of ICT possibility training, Forestur has identified specific needs of rural tourist sector and has developed a training

methodology In its most common sense, methodology is the study of research methods. However, the term can also refer to the methods themselves or to the philosophical discussion of associated background assumptions. A method is a structured procedure for bri ...

based on the use of

asynchronous communication In telecommunications, asynchronous communication is transmission of data, generally without the use of an external clock signal, where data can be transmitted intermittently rather than in a steady stream. Any timing required to recover data fro ...

and

social integration Social integration is the process during which newcomers or minorities are incorporated into the social structure of the host society. Social integration, together with economic integration and identity integration, are three main dimensions o ...

Asynchronous communication In telecommunications, asynchronous communication is transmission of data, generally without the use of an external clock signal, where data can be transmitted intermittently rather than in a steady stream. Any timing required to recover data fro ...

means that teacher and student do not connect at a real time like on-line chats or phone calls. It is done at a different time, so that there exists a time space between the question and the answer. It is exactly the same as e-mailing or posting. The flexibility provided by asynchronous communication has been really important for Forestur in order to help students to follow the courses easily. The

has also been a successful approach: taking always into account the specific

sociocultural {{Short pages monitor