Good Practices Within the European Project Smart Rural

Abstract

Since November 2019, the University of Alicante, through the Human Geography research group, has participated as a partner in the European Smart rural project. Its objective is to identify the existing gaps and best practices in the EU countries to develop a training program in smart rural tourism aimed at students, authorities, and local communities (stakeholders). In total there are seven universities involved. The purpose of the communication is to illustrate the process followed to date, determine the content of the training program, the topics and the methodology for its development, which must then be tested to obtain learning that improves the final product. The University of Alicante contributes the value of geography in the development of these training programs linked to tourism, reinforcing the importance of an integrated rural and territorial approach, with the local population as a fundamental pillar. It also provides an analysis of the good practices of each of the partners and a methodological guide.