The "Designing Green Tourism Concept through Learning" project focuses on bridging the skill and competence gaps between Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) and the labor market, with a specific emphasis on fostering sustainable tourism in Georgia and Moldova. This initiative aims to raise awareness and enhance the concept of green tourism services, aligning with sustainable tourism practices.

Through active collaboration, partner HEIs are committed to contributing to sustainable innovation, competence development in tourism, and capacity building. The project also facilitates the rapid transfer of enhanced competences to the broader society.

The primary objectives of the project include:

• Identifying skills and competence discrepancies between HEIs and the labor market in the twin transition context, focusing on climate change, sustainable tourism development, and the shift toward a digital economy. This will be achieved through knowledge exchange among nine HEI partners from Finland, Austria, Italy, Georgia, and Moldova, thereby transforming higher education in tourism.

• Developing innovative training and teaching activities to improve competences in service development for sustainable tourism. This includes fostering a business mindset and enhancing service design thinking, crucial for developing competences in green tourism service development.

• Establishing Green Tourism Hubs at partner HEIs in Georgia and Moldova. These hubs will disseminate knowledge and best practices about sustainable tourism, innovative learning approaches, service design methods and tools, and business development strategies to the surrounding community and region.

In addition to Caucasus University, the project involves eight other private and public universities, including leading European institutions from Austria, Moldova, Italy, and Finland. The project is coordinated by Haaga-Helia University of Applied Sciences.