Inspired kick off to Refugee Tourism Entrepreneurship

I was delighted to join partners from Turkey, Ukraine, Croatia and Belgium this week for the inaugural Project Team Meeting of Erasmus KA 2 project Inspire held at the Technical University of the Shannon (TUS), Athlone, Ireland. My first visit to the Emerald Isle was a hugely enjoyable experience and an opportunity meet existing colleagues from the Businet network to establish new friendships.

Many thanks to Tony Johnston, Noelle O’Connor and PhD student Alex Yu from TUS for your wonderful organisation and hospitality. Around one enormous boardroom table the team established a roadmap for our Inspire project and sampled the rich culture and heritage of Ireland, with the final evening at Sean's Bar (the oldest pub in Ireland) being a particular highlight for all.

The Inspire project which will run from November 2023 to November 2025 will develop valuable resources to support refugee populations across the partner countries. The project team aims to present case studies which identify areas of good practice and barriers to success which will provide lessons across for the EU dealing with the refugee crises caused by the invasion of Ukraine and develop resources to support this population and other displaced populations across Europe. Resources will include a good practice user guide for refugee tourism entrepreneurs, a website and a mobile application. Alongside the teaching and learning resources the team will create a searchable databank which will encompass the range of support available for refugee tourism entrepreneurs. Over the two-year EU funded project the project team will be meeting regularly online, with the next planned face2face meeting due to take place in Izmir, Turkey in May 2024.

Learn more about the Inspire project by visiting our Businet Projects Hub.