Academic CentreThe participants of the Bench Mobility could see and discuss all these aspects during the different visits and the workshop at the end:
The first day of the Mobility started with a guided tour through Ostrava, organized by the Ostravský informační servis. During the tour that included the New Town Hall and New City Hall Viewing Tower – the largest accessible town hall and viewing tower complex in the Czech Republic, the participants were introduced with history, tourism, future and other aspects of Ostrava.
Visit to educational facility AHOL secondary school of tourism - under the topic Qualification/VET and adult training in tourism the partners got detailed information about the school’s specialisation in travel agency operator, steward in transport services, experience/adventure tourism, gastronomy, hotel services. During the discussion, the focus was laid on the how and under which aspects teaching of the accessibility topic is organised and what approaches are used.
Visit to the accommodation facility Mlýn vodníka Slámy - partners could see during this visit how the topic “Accessible tourism, employment of skilled and unskilled workers” is lived in practices by a very small enterprise, well embedded in the regional environment.
Visit to Marlenka factory (production of honey cakes) - the guided visit to the Marlenka factory was focused on the topic: “Starting a business in a foreign country, employment of skilled and unskilled workers”.
Visit to Landek Park - partners could see and discuss with the guides during the visit to Landek Park how urban tourism is organised, which problems with practical and/informal accessibility are to face and what qualification of (seasonal) workers is required to offer a high quality and most of all authentic service.
Visit to Fire-fighting museum - it's a great example on how to organize accessible tourism in a small museum located in a historic building by enthusiastic people.
Visit to Cooltour (cultural centre) - the visit to Cooltour and the discussions with one of the founders were focused on the topic: tourism (making Ostrava more attractive for visitors), inclusion of minorities and foreigners, strengthening of community life, sustainability.
Visit to Dolní Vítkovice - Dolní oblast Vítkovice is a unique educational, social and cultural centre of Ostrava where coal used to be mined and pig iron produced from 1828 till 1998. In 2002, the area was declared a National Heritage Site and in 2008 European Heritage Site.
Additionally, during the Blended Mobility, the Workshop and Open Space Discussion took place, where the following topics and projects were presented:
- Destination management Moravian-Silesian Tourism by Ms Kateřina Buglová from the Moravian Silesian tourism – tourism concept of Moravian-Silesian region and its implementation.
- Project “FajnOVA/ City of Ostrava” by Mr. Ing. Daniel Konczyna from the Bee Partner, external consulting company that elaborated a strategic plan for the development of the City of Ostrava in 2017-2023. It’s a joint plan of Ostrava’s citizens for Ostrava. For the process of the creation it was used participatory approach based on leadership, involvement of the experts and the public, open communication under one brand etc. Plan is considered as one of the best practices in the Czech Republic, which other cities want to follow.
- Project “In Focus - project for talent attraction management – it’s an international project of the city of Ostrava focused on the talent attraction to the region. Project is implemented within the URBACT program and is leaded by the partner from Bilbao (Spain). There are 10 European cities involved. Talent management is a pioneering process for Ostrava, there is no systematic approach to the talents in the region.
- Travel agency ATIS – practical example on how a new business model was created for new demands, i.e. for the topic accessible tourism in the Czech Republic.
At the end of the Blended Mobility, project partners and participants made summary about the all visit, discussed its outcomes and highlighted positive conclusions of the experience exchange. It was agreed that next Study visit in Spain will be organised from 2nd to 6th October 2017.
For more information about the visited places in Ostrava and discussed, please download the Report and the Compedium.