Over the past few years, many places around the world have been experiencing increased pressure from a rise in tourist numbers. While tourism is vital to their economies, quite often overcrowding and insensitive behaviour of travellers has led to complaints and dissatisfaction from locals. Learning how to be a better traveller can be part of the solution. By working directly with young travellers, the new Erasmus+ project CULTSENSE aims at developing long-term solutions supporting more locally-sensitive travel practices that are mindful and respectful of the local customs and ways of life.
Over the next three years, CULTSENSE will create a specialised educational approach to developing more understanding attitudes towards other cultures, including pedagogical tools for students (who account for the biggest share of young travellers) and teaching staff. Education plays a major role in addressing the challenges of mobility which are also related to citizenship. The tools will be co-created with and for students and teaching staff in the different European partner countries, allowing for knowledge transfer and best practice exchange. The goal is for CULTSENSE to contribute ultimately to a better relationship between residents and travellers, even in crowded places. By sensitizing young travellers to local cultures, the project contributes to better quality of life for locals, more meaningful experiences for travellers and an overall better understanding of European values and identities.
Meet the team
The project is led by Lénia Marques (Arts and Culture Studies) and the EUR core project team includes Amanda Brandellero, Janna Michael, Koen van Eijck and Fernanda Rodriguez, in collaboration with several other colleagues. International partners to the project are the Universidad de Girona, (Spain); NOVIA University of Applied Sciences (Finland); Instituto Politécnico de Viana do Castelo (Portugal); Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu (Romania), and WYSE Travel Confederation and ATLAS – Association for Tourism and Leisure Education and Research as associated partners.
If you would like to know more or collaborate, please send us an e-mail to cultsense@eshcc.eur.nl or to the project leader, Lénia Marques, marques@eshcc.eur.nl.
- More information
Visit the website of CULTSENSE.