On 6 of May took place, on Microsoft Teams Platform, the Kickoff Meeting (KOM) of the “FEELIT – A Pioneer Curriculum for Designing Tourism Experiences” project (project number: 2021-1-EL01-KA220-VET-000028082). This new project is part of the program Erasmus+ KA220-VET – Cooperation partnerships in vocational education and training.
The objectives of the FEELIT project are:
- Offer a better understanding of the requirements of tourists with hearing impairments as a valuable share of the tourism market (referring to physical access, accommodation, food, activities, attractions and transport).
- Create employment opportunities for deaf and hard of hearing people to work as tourist agents creating accessible vacations for their peers.
- Train travel agents in how to serve deaf customers and customers with hearing impairments. Staff who are well-trained with a ‘can-do’ attitude are important in improving travel enjoyment for these groups of customers.
- Create a European community of deaf and hard of hearing people that will be advising peers to organise their trips in the visiting country.
The consortium is composed of 7 European partners from 5 different countries (Greece, Italy, Cyprus, Belgium and Romania) and it is led by UNIWA – PANEPISTIMIO DYTIKIS ATTIKIS (Greece).
During the KOM, the partners had the chance to meet each other for the first time, talking about important topics such as the project activities, the budget invested in them, and the project expected results.
The FEELIT consortium is currently working on the development of a curriculum on entry-level travel agent basics adequate for people with hearing impairments and, at the same time, on the development of curriculum on designing Tourism Experiences for Deaf.
The Partners are also working on the visual identity of the project and on the creation of the social media channels.
