Imagine the tourism of tomorrow, this is what the Bachelor students of the Hospitality & Tourism Management track, of Toulouse Business School (TBS education) have done today.
Thanks to an unprecedented collaboration between Toulouse Business School, the Creative Tourism Network® (CTN) and the Toulouse Tourist Office, these 45 students from 13 countries, including the United States, Saudi Arabia, Belgium, Morocco, Republic of Korea, Kazakhstan, Gabon, Angola, India, Singapore, Germany and Switzerland, and France, have co-created creative tourism offers, designed to attract new profiles of travelers to Toulouse while meeting the criteria of sustainability, authenticity, and cohesion with the local population.
From foodies participating in a violet macaroons workshop to Americans coming to improve their French by interpreting the Nougaro repertoire, to “singles” discovering local know-how via a program of artistic workshops, the experiences offered were as diverse as they were numerous… no less than a hundred!
The projects, carried out in just a few weeks, were presented in the amphitheater of the TBS education Campus, in front of a jury composed of Mrs. Meritxell Baldello, Head of the incoming service & Groups of the Toulouse Tourist Office, Céline Gazel, Tour guide in Toulouse, and Caroline Couret, director of the Creative Tourism Network®.
Such results exceeded all expectations and represented a relevant professional success for these students!
Success also for this pioneering educational initiative, brilliantly orchestrated by Thomas Silvie, Head of the Hospitality & Tourism Management sector, who was able to bring together local and international organizations around this project – Office de Tourisme and Creative Tourism Network® – as well as experts in visual identity (Venice Abed), social media marketing (Lindsay Walker), app design (Thierry Benchetrit) and SEO (Iulia Apostu).
Caroline Couret, who provided the training in the management of creative tourism projects, says she is “happy that ecosystems of this type, combining education, entrepreneurship, and DMOs, can emerge within the university curriculum. Beyond the content, the apprenticeship has provided invaluable personal development for the students, and has also provided an external vision of great value, on the tourist attraction of Toulouse, to seduce new generations of tourists.”
A vision on which Meritxell Baldello and Céline Gazel outbid, who welcomed this project and the creative ideas of the students with great enthusiasm.
Thomas Silvie, who leads a Hospitality educational project every year with students, speakers and hoteliers, is also delighted with this first Tourism project, which “combined theoretical contributions, practical applications, and presentation to professionals”
Four projects were awarded during this event, the jury highlighting the originality and creativity of their offer, but of course also, the relevance of this touristic-creative segment for the city of Toulouse.
“This project marked a “before and after”, by creating a pioneering laboratory which will continue to develop thanks to the involvement of local stakeholders, and of TBS education, represented by Mrs. Patricia Bournet, Director of Bachelor TBS, and Thomas Silvie, at the heart of this project,” underlined Caroline Couret.
The tourism of tomorrow, … was born yesterday, in Toulouse!
