The Project

OUR VISION, MISSION, AIMS AND AMBITION.

  • Nautilus vision is to create highly-skilled and educated Water Sports Tourism professionals, who will be able to provide excellent services, act as local ambassadors and raise awareness about the preservation of the seas and oceans.

  • Nautilus mission is to create an innovative methodology for flexible, collaborative, work-based learning that will offer learners the opportunity to gain basic theoretical knowledge and acquire new skills and competences.

  • Nautilus aims to expand the boundaries of formal and informal education by bringing together a university, three water sports tourism SMEs, an IT company and an accreditation and certification organization to collaborate and produce a training and professional qualification framework for upskilling of the water sports tourism professionals.

  • Nautilus ambition is to create attractive jobs in water sports tourism without harming the marine environment and create new opportunities for a young generation that is and wants to remain close to the sea.

NEED & CHALLENGE

  • Seasonal and mobile workers with different knowledge background and diverse education and training. Graduate students with hospitality degrees with different skills from those that are needed, or experienced water sports instructors with no theoretical knowledge about hospitality and guest services.
  • Water sports (WS) instructors without knowledge about the local area, its culture, environment and people.
    WS Tourism professionals with ocean literacy & increased knowledge about the specific travel destination can add value to the touristic product in coastal areas. They can act as local ambassadors for the promotion of the specific travel destination and can raise awareness about the preservation of our seas.

  • Previous research results, in the framework of the MELTEMI Project (2017-2019), regarding the training needs of the NAUTICAL ROUTES professionals, among others, demonstrated the need for:

    • Knowledge of hospitality services, management and tourism marketing
    • Soft skills: language and communication skills, risk management, team working, resilience, leadership, cultural awareness.
    • Safety skills: life guarding, first aid, emergency response, drawing prevention, self-survival and emergency action, rescue.
    • Inclusiveness training: equip Water Sports Tourism Professionals with the knowledge, tools and attitude to provide an excellent, safe and rewarding service to people with disabilities.

OUR PLAN

  • Map the educational and training offer & analyse the training/ learning needs of the WST professionals, the industry skills needs and finally create their occupational profile.

  • Develop the methodology, tools and learning content for an effective and innovative training experience.

  • Test the system in real life conditions and create the first cohort of qualified and certified Water Sports Tourism professionals.

  • Share the knowledge.