The objectives of the Provisional Learning Area in the Province of Bergamo should conjugate the paradigm of territorial quality with the sector paradigm of system integration, i.e.:

identifying the vocational training and education needs in the province of Bergamo .
identifying the shared objectives to make the tourism industry of Bergamo more competitive and innovative through the qualification of skills
planning the conditions to promote the shift from training to learning
acknowledging the contribution of each actor according to his/her role
awareness raising of the training and professional needs of the territory
settling a calendar of short-medium term activities shared by the actors
guaranteeing an ongoing stakeholder information and communication system able to redirect their actions.

1.6 Tourism Learning Area Bergamo

Background and Context
The Learning Area in Province of Bergamo is taking form as a network of actors - coordinated by ACTA and University of Bergamo - involved in the fields of education/training on tourism, at a provincial and local level, which affects a territorial system with at least 2 points of application: the town (City of Bergamo); pede-mountain and mountain areas (in particular Val Brembana and Val Seriana). These two systems, even if distinguished by different social, cultural, environmental peculiarities, are in search of synergies and opportunities in order to realize an integrated, quality, innovative tourist system for Bergamo. The coordination of the project is in the hands of ACTA and the Università degli Studi di Bergamo. On the 11th of May 2004, ACTA and the University of Bergamo have drawn up an agreement for the PLA process. According to this agreement, the University of Bergamo is the promoting subject and ACTA is technical consultant in supporting organizational aspects and transfer of contents. The two parties have agreed to exchange all useful information, mainly for the involvement of stakeholders, and to designate a legal representative. In September, the Province Administration of Bergamo (Presidence, Assessorship Culture, Sport, Turisme and Assessorship Training) has granted its sponsorship/legal aid to the workshop and its cooperation for the further activities.

Objectives
The objectives of the Provisional Learning Area in the Province of Bergamo should conjugate the paradigm of territorial quality with the sector paradigm of system integration, i.e.:

identifying the vocational training and education needs in the province of Bergamo .
identifying the shared objectives to make the tourism industry of Bergamo more competitive and innovative through the qualification of skills
planning the conditions to promote the shift from training to learning
acknowledging the contribution of each actor according to his/her role
awareness raising of the training and professional needs of the territory
settling a calendar of short-medium term activities shared by the actors
guaranteeing an ongoing stakeholder information and communication system able to redirect their actions.

Activities
To implement the Learning Area, the team has thought the official involvement of the Province Administration of Bergamo useful, in particular of the Assessorships of Tourism and Training. In fact, the project is part of the objectives of the Province of Bergamo government, in the employment policies and in education/training activities. Moreover, the spirit of the Learning Area coincides with the statutory purposes of the territorial agencies of tourist development. For these reasons, the team, through different working meetings, has demanded the collaboration of the two Assessorships and of the Tourist Agency for promotion of Bergamo. The former has granted the sponsorship for the workshop and has shown its interest in the follow up of the process. The latter has offered important information in order to guide the actors' choices, to identify the more suitable actors and to stimulate the actors' participation to the workshop. A qualified and diversified audience has taken part in the workshop (25 people).

The workshop has been structured in two moments:

the first one, based on the transfer of important information on the concept of the Learning Area;
the second one, developing an interactivity to stimulate exchange of information, perceptions and expectations concerning the implementation of a Tourism Learning Area in the Province of Bergamo.

The stakeholders have expressed appreciation towards the project and their availability to collaborate. The received feedback has been encouraging. The actors have comprised the opportunities of the project, but further meetings will be organized. These meetings should identify the procedures and activities for the development of future activities. The following themes will be investigated:

how to make the tourism industry in Bergamo more competitive and innovative
how to make the partnership efficient
how to promote the shift from training to learning

A final meeting should collect and summarize the results of the meetings and, in cooperation with the actors, define the contents of the protocol of collaboration to be sent in the Province Administration of Bergamo for its subscription. The protocol, which should state a calendar of short-medium term activities, will represent therefore the first step to make the Learning Area an official activity.

1.7 Historical Background to this initiative

Over the past few years the European Commission has gathered a lot of valuable information from all over Europe on how to improve the performance of the tourism and education sectors. Within the Commission, DG Enterprise's Tourism Unit is implementing a project that will bring together the broad processes of education and tourism using a systematic concept called a Learning Area. The idea is being applied to the tourism sector, so that the quantitative and qualitative development of stakeholder performance can be achieved by well-informed and motivated people, working together within coherent and effective educational and sectoral governance processes.

To achieve this, seven provisional learning areas are being established in different countries to see how the system will work on field . The province of Bergamo is one of these areas.

The move to implement the concept of Learning Areas for the Tourism Sector stems from the Human Potential debate, in which the p rocess of learning is seen as the key to improving our individual and collective performance, especially at work, but also with regard to social and environmental issues. DG Education and Culture developed the idea through CEDEFOP as Learning Regions or Learning Communities , which are now being disseminated through the R3L (Regional Life Long Learning) Initiative.

In 2001, the Commission Communication Working together for the future of European tourism focused part of its attention on how t o improve training in order to upgrade skills in the tourism industry, where issues of attracting, retaining and developing skilled labour to the sector, and supporting micro-enterprises at regional and local level to improve competitiveness were both seen as causing difficulties for tourism sector stability and growth throughout Europe.