The Tourism Education of the Future kick-off meeting took place on the 17^th and 18th of January 2022 in Zwolle (Netherlands). TEF is a KA2 Erasmus+ project, which gathers seven partners from different European countries (Italy, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Greece, Netherlands, Spain, Portugal and Belgium).

APRO Formazione, the project coordinator, opened the meeting and introduced the partners, project, state of the art, masterclass, main objectives of the project and dissemination. The main objective of the project is to reduce skills gap between schools and tourism industry through three results:

• Improved digital competences of teachers and students
• Improved soft skills of students
• Improved professional competences of students and professionals.

The future of the hospitality industry, and therefore hospitality education, has been a growing question in the minds of professionals and investors. As the pandemic has swept around the globe, it has impacted nearly every industry, but hospitality has been hit particularly hard. Students also need to have creativity, agility, and the ability to pivot as needed to change circumstances. As industries, including the hospitality industry, navigate their path forward after the changes of the past year, and they need to have adaptable skills that allow them to learn and meet those needs. Soft skills training also helps students transform their learning into a viable future career.

The project partners will develop blended upskilling activities for teachers and trainers and innovative learning activities for students. In Particular, they agree to share best practice in dedicated seminars, masterclass and to prepare the discussions into actionable items where possible.

The first kick-off meeting was successful, and next activity will take place in Alba, Italy, with a 3-days workshop on the future of tourism.