Kickoff meeting TERMA CULTURE OPPORTUNITIES

The kick off meeting of TERMA CULTURE OPPORTUNITIES – Opportunities for

sustainable development through thermal and gastronomic tourism took place in Naples and Ischia Italy between the project partners:

• Voca Academy (EduAge Ltd), Bulgaria
• Enjoy Network, Italy
• Gastro Alianza, Spain
• Akademie, Austria

The partners met for 2 days to discuss the project goals, outcomes, plan the research and training activities and share insights from the initial needs analysis of the sector.

During the kickoff meeting, partners visited 3 thermal sites in Ischia and one traditional local gastro restaurant. Partners interviewed the business owners of the places and learned about the challenges they face, how they deal with them and what plans for business expansion they have. The sited visited were:

• Castiglione Thermal Park
• La Grotta Naturale
• Ferdinado Ishcia
• A family-owned restaurant

All business owners shared that Covid-19 hit their business and government support was helpful, but insufficient. As family business and such with tradition, most managers don’t consider digitalization or strategic changes to build capacity in the business. They mostly consider traditional marketing, cutting cost and relaying on touristic agencies and

their reputation.

While these strategies were effective before the Covid-19 pandemic and in times of no recession, the current business landscape calls for innovation, transformation, and new approaches to business growth.

TERMA CULTURE OPPORTUNITIES will share trainings, articles, and insights on how such transformation and innovation happen. The visits and interviews during the kickoff meeting though proved that it all begins with an open mindset and readiness to embrace change.

Embracing change has been most challenging for family business and the project has great empathy for them and the difficulties of embracing change. Yet change might be the answer to many of the challenges these businesses are facing.

Stay tuned for the OPEN MINDSET training coming soon on our TRAININGS platform.