The boom in outdoor vacations is evident to all. After the years of the pandemic crisis, outdoor tourism is experiencing unprecedented growth, with record numbers of overnight stays recorded in several European countries in recent seasons. However, this success has highlighted the shortage of high-profile managerial figures capable of understanding and managing the peculiarities of this sector. To support the training of future managers in open-air hospitality, the Italian-Dutch brand Vacanze col Cuore initiated a collaboration last year with the Master Of Sustainable Outdoor Hospitality Management (Campmaster).
“We need specific skills,” commented the founder of the Group, Loek Van de Loo, “and our involvement in the activities of the Master program offers us the opportunity to fund the training of these new professions“. The Group’s collaboration unfolds through both financing, for three consecutive years, scholarships for the most deserving students, and by offering them the opportunity to intern at their own resorts and head offices in Italy. The first stage of this training program will take place in Manerba del Garda, the Italian headquarters of the Group, at the end of May 2024.
Emphasizing the need to provide students with specific pathways that take into account the characteristics of the sector, Loek Van de Loo highlighted the importance of some topics related to open-air tourism: first and foremost, environmental sustainability, a cornerstone of an activity that takes place in the heart of nature, but also new technologies and digitalization, now fundamental to modern and efficient businesses.
The Master in Sustainable Outdoor Hospitality Management (here our interview with Josipa Bonifačić Cvelić, responsible of the project) is conducted in English and is Europe’s first master’s degree in hospitality and camping resort management. A multi-level professional master’s programme in which theory and practice are combined: the students from all over the world spend six months at each of the three universities involved – the University of Breda in the Netherlands, the University of Girona in Spain, and the University of Rijeka in Croatia – to obtain a triple Degree. This program offers them a unique and comprehensive experience, allowing them to acquire multicultural skills applicable in the outdoor hospitality sector.
