ComPass – The experience exchange about 3rd age personnel qualification in tourism sector in Santander (Spain)

The experience exchange began in a small town of the Cantabria region (with population ~ 4 ths.) - Santillana del Mar by visiting the hotel "Parador Santillana Gil Blas". The Paradores hotel chain is one of the best-regarded hotel chains in Spain. It is a public enterprise and is a model for seriousness, prestige and recognition, both at national and international level. Unique buildings of historical significance and in scenically beautiful areas as well as worth seeing cultural goods are experienced by the hotel chain a renaissance of their existence and are made into beautiful and attractive accommodations or rebuilt without forgetting or rebuilding the history of the house.

How can a city be "smarter" for tourists? This question was raised by the town of Santillana del Mar and developed a project which dealt with this topic. Mr. Torre Don Borja presented the project Smart Tourist Destination of Santillana del Mar. The Intelligent Tourist Destinations project (DTI) was born and is officially recognized in Spain, through the National Comprehensive Tourism Plan, (approved by the Council of Ministers in June 2012) combining the concepts of sustainability, knowledge and innovation and technology around the tourist destinations, the point of arrival of all visitors.

The cave of Altamira near Santillana del Mar is known for its Stone Age cave painting. It belongs to the Franco-Cantabrian cave art and is part of the UNESCO World heritage. The cave of Altamira corresponds to the privilege of being the first place in the world in which the existence of Upper Palaeolithic Rock Art was identified. Due to the high number of visitors, it was closed to avoid a risk of destruction. Later a model based on the original cave was built, thus making accessible “cave” to the visitors, even with handicap or from the older generation.

In addition, tourism companies were visited in the sense of "good practice":

• the Hotel "<link http: www.casonaelarral.com _blank>La Casona el Arral", which is led by a pair of siblings, specialises in rural tourism. The owners of the establishment, Ines and Gabriel Cabañas show the facilities and the unique history of the building, originally a convent school set up by the grandmother of the current owners. The hotel belongs to the Tourism Quality Club of Cantabria and has the highest category in Rural Tourism: "Casonas y Palacios" equivalent to a 3-star hotel. The hotel seeks to provide a comprehensive service to its guests by providing information about the various services and tourist destinations in the region Valles Pasiegos where it is registered;
• the "<link http: www.balneariolierganes.com _blank>Hotel Ballneario Liérganes" which is active in the field of health tourism; and
• the private brewery "<link https: www.dougalls.es _blank>Cervezas Dougall's". whose owner is The project began in 2006 as a small initiative to brew English beer in a rural setting area: The first 8,000 liter 2006 have become more than 130,000 today, the factory started in a garage 60 meters wide and now it is placed in a warehouse of 300 meters, from an individual activity to give work to 8 people today.

At the end of the study visit a Workshops and Open Space Discussion were organised:

In subsequent workshops, the learned and the impressions gained were discussed and reflected. The Tourism University of Santander provided space for this purpose and presented itself and selected tourism concepts. A concept was strongly supported by the participants and discussed whether it is possible to transfer this concept to other countries.

The basic idea of this concept is: "Every Spanish citizen who has worked and lived in Spain for 15 years, from the Government refers to pension funds, is over 60 years old or widowed, can make subsidized vacations in a region that is involved in the project".

The full overview of the experience exchange in Cantabria Region can be found in the PROGRAMME