1. Background

1.1 Name of Initiating Entity Regionalforum Pongau Isabel Scherrer Bahnhofstrasse 12 5500 Bischofshofen In cooperation with ÖAR Regionalberatung GmbH Karl Reiner Fichtegasse 2, 1010 Wien 1.2 Start Date Autumn 2004 (up and running)

1.3 Proposed Name of Tourism Learning Area

"Qualität und Wettbewerbsfähigkeit des Tourismus im Pongau durch Qualifzierung und gemeinsames Lernen"
Working Title:
QUALITÄT DURCH BILDUNG UND QUALIFIZIERUNG

1.4 Geographical region covered

The Pongau is located in Salzburg . The Land Salzburg belongs to the tourism-intensive provinces in Austria . It is divided into the districts Lungau, Pongau, Pinzgau, Tennengau, Flachgau. The Pinzgau and Pongau together count for 75% of all overnight stays and had an increase of 4,8% resp. 4,5% in 2002.

The Pongau has 25 municipalities (Altenmarkt, Bad Hofgastein, Bischofshofen, Dorfgastein, Bad Gastein, Eben im Pongau, Filzmoos, Flachau, Forstau, Goldegg, Großarl, Hüttau, Hüttschlag, Kleinarl, Mühlbach/ Hochkönig, Pfarrwerfen, Radstadt, Schwarzach, St. Johann/ Pongau, St. Martin/ Tennengebirge, St. Veit/ Pongau, Untertauern, Wagrain, Werfen, Werfenweng)

The Pongau has an area of 1.725,25 km 2 and is the second largest district in Salzburg . The four municipalities Mühlbach am Hochkönig, Bischofshofen, Werfenweng and Pfarrwerfen are part of the EUREGIO Salzburg - Berchtesgadner Land - Traunstein. Hüttschlag stretches partly into the well-known Nationalpark Hohe Tauern. The structure of business entities is characterized by SME´s: 93% of all businesses have less than 20 employees, 2/3 have less than 5 employees and belong to the group of micro enterprises. Only 3% have more than 50 employees. Tourism and tourism related businesses are of the most important industries in the region. The Pongau hosts 2 European model regions for soft mobility: Werfenweng and Bad-Hofgastein. Especially Werfenweng has successfully and consequently continued this way and gains more and more public attention as well as increasing overnight stays.

1.5 Objectives of Provisional Learning Area

Having noted the three step process stated in the toolkit and through discussions during the partnership-building process, stakeholders have arrived at the following objectives:

• To establish a list of interested stakeholders
• Identification of knowledge providers - database with detailed information (knowledge pool)
• Identification of training needs
• Identification of lacks in demand (why is there not enough demand for certain offers?)
• Transfer of information and training
• Specific training for service providers in the region
• Establishment of an e-training platform (market place)

1.6 Provisional Learning Area Pongau

The region Pongau has 9 million overnight stays and is one of the most tourism-intensive regions in Austria. The region is divided in smaller administrative regions and valleys. In 1996 - with the accession of Austria to the EU - the Regionalforum Pongau was established as a non-profit association and consists of representatives of 20 municipalities of the district of Pongau. The goals of the Regionalforum are:

• Promotion of quality regional development , based on the aid schemes and initiatives of the district, the Province Salzburg, the state and the EU
• Set priorities for development and future-oriented steering of planning
• The Regionalforum supports local residents, project promoters and regional implementers at their projects

The Pongau has been declared as LEADER+ region in spring 2002. The mission statement for the Pongau is "Lebens.Wert.Pongau" ( Value for Living.in Pongau). The LEADER programme foresees the topics 'quality development ' and 'knowledge networks' as key projects. The Regionalforum has participated as a "provisional Learning Area" in the Handbbook project, which aims to increase competitiveness of the European tourism industry. It aims to achieve the same goals by, improved and more efficient training of all actors and suppliers. The first step is to find all providers of trainings and education and to screen the demand and interest for a common learning region and a regional knowledge network.

In 2004 the Regionalforum has started the "Initiative for Service Quality in Tourism". The regional manager sees the participation in as additional chance to improve regional competitiveness.

On June 29, 2004 an information event and workshop took place in the Chamber of Commerce in St. Johann. It addressed all potential actors of a regional knowledge network. Learning needs and qualification had been discussed; their potential as well as their weaknesses. First ideas and projects have been developed. As result a diploma thesis in cooperation with the University of Applied Sciences in Tourism will be announced. The thesis will search for better ways to approach micro enterprises in tourism for tailor-made qualifications. The establishment of a knowledge network is in discussion. The manual for Learning Areas is felt to bea very supportive tool to achieve this objective.

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 in reality. The Pongau in Salzburg 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.