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USI, UNESCO Chair Via Buffi 13 6900 Lugano Switzerland from Lorenzo Cantoni tel + 41 58 666 4720 fax + 41 58 666 4647 e-mail [email protected] web www.usi.ch date 14.04.2020 Let’s fight for Tourism: eLearning initiatives at the time of Covid-19 Dear Madam, dear Sir, as you know, Tourism is being dramatically affected by the Coronavirus crisis. According to UNWTO, “This pandemic affects every level of society and we stand by those affected in these times. The impact of the pandemic on already slowing economies has made tourism particularly vulnerable, becoming the hardest hit sector so far. With 80% of the sector made up of small and medium-sized enterprises, millions of livelihoods in the world are left vulnerable”. As we are still unaware of the full impact this crisis will have on the world and on tourism, it is imperative to plan ahead and act now. We at the UNESCO Chair at USI – Università della Svizzera italiana (Lugano, Switzerland) believe that eLearning is a very powerful tool to support the resilience of Tourism in these hard times. The UNESCO Chair of USI has always focused on and researched the various ways eLearning can be applied to tourism education. Thus, we would like to do our small part by launching an initiative in this field. Three tourism-centered MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses), two of which created in collaboration with the UNESCO UNITWIN Network “Culture, Tourism, Development”, have now been re-opened to learners worldwide: eTourism: Communication Perspectives: http://www.etourismmooc.ch/ An introductory course to the fascinating world of eTourism: it explores how Information and Communication Technologies do matter for tourism – both for our personal experience, and for the tourism industry at large. By the end of the course, learners will know current eTourism applications, technologies and practices; will know how to map different communication activities within the tourism sector; will know how to run a usability test and how to make usages analysis of a website or mobile app; will know how to plan, run and evaluate eTourism related activities, especially when it comes to the analysis of online reputation of a tourism destination. pagina 2/2 Tourism Management at UNESCO World Heritages Sites (vol. 1): https://www.fun-mooc.fr/courses/course-v1:Paris1+16008+session01/about Among the covered topics: Concepts, Doctrines and Lists (I). 1972 Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage; Concepts, Doctrines and Lists (II). 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage; Tourism at World Heritage Sites; Tourism and Local Communities; Site Conservation/Enhancement and Tourist Management; Tourism Interpretation on World Heritage Sites; eTourism for Heritage; Tourist Economy related to Heritage. Tourism Management at UNESCO World Heritages Sites (vol. 2): https://www.fun-mooc.fr/courses/course-v1:Paris1+16012+session01/about Among the covered topics: Tourism Marketing; Site Management Systems; Behavior and Satisfaction on World Heritage Sites; Historical Memories and Tourism on World Heritage Sites; Religious Tourism; Tourism in World Heritage Cities. These courses examine a wide array of contemporary tourism issues, challenges and opportunities in didactic videos and documents created specifically for the MOOCs, as well as quizzes, additional materials, and activities aimed at fostering experience sharing among participants/learners are provided. We believe that the three free online courses will be of interest for policy makers and managers of destinations committed to promoting tourism and, at the same time, concerned with the destination’s conservation. Other involved parties, such as Heritage Site managers, Professionals in the Tourism Industry, Students, will also gain in-depth knowledge about the complex reality of tourism in heritage sites. We also suggest these educational recourses to be used in blended/online teaching modalities by tourism professors globally. We also launched several free educational resources for tourism that comprise eLearning programs, publications and educational games: Updated list of eLearning programs about tourism destinations: http://www.elearning4tourism.com/destination-elearning-courses/ WHACY – World Heritage Awareness Campaign for Youth in Southern African Development Community (SADC): https://apps.apple.com/us/app/whacy-game/id1034247681 https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=net.webatelier.Whacy Several publications/research outputs on eLearning in Tourism: http://www.elearning4tourism.com/publications/ Should you evaluate these resources to be of interest, please feel free to share them with interested players. Thank you very much for your attention, and kind regards, prof. Lorenzo Cantoni, PhD (Chair-holder)