Putting Skills at the Centre: The GreenHost Vision for Hospitality

The GreenHost project team has successfully completed the Policy Report on Labour Market Skills for the Tourism and Hospitality Industries, the first policy-oriented deliverable summarizing findings from seven national reports by partners in Bulgaria, Cyprus, Greece, Italy, Portugal, Slovenia, and Spain. These reports analyze the economic and labor market contexts of tourism, identify skills shortages and training gaps, and propose national recommendations for improving employability, digitalization, and sustainability.

The added value of GreenHost lies in its ability to link local experiences with European strategies, creating a common language among public and private tourism stakeholders. Through comparative analysis, the project has highlighted not only common challenges but also a shared wealth of knowledge, practices, and tools that can inform future EU policies. GreenHost demonstrates how tourism can serve as a laboratory for social innovation—a field where sustainability, inclusion, and digitalization are not slogans but concrete and measurable processes.

Its main contribution has been to place skills at the centre — understood not merely as

technical abilities, but as the capacity for adaptation, collaboration, and strategic vision.

A New Gateway for Internships: How GreenHost

Facilitates Student-Industry Matching

The GreenHost project has developed a comprehensive Recruitment System of

Apprentices and Businesses as part of its WP5 – Mobility and Industry Engagement. This system is designed to facilitate the connection between students, vocational education and training (VET) learners, universities, recent graduates, emerging professionals, and businesses, specifically in the green and digital hospitality sectors. The system will be implemented across seven partner countries: Bulgaria, Greece, Cyprus, Italy, Slovenia, Spain, and Portugal.

The goal of the recruitment system is to create a national network that bridges the gap between education and the tourism industry, supporting high-quality internships in green and digital hospitality.

The system will be powered by an Online Transnational Cooperation Platform and will serve the following key objectives:

• Efficient Matching: It will ensure transparent and efficient matching between suitable companies and students through an online platform.

• International Work-Based Learning: The platform will enable students and professionals to access internship opportunities across partner countries, fostering international exposure in green and digital sectors.

• Stronger Industry Partnerships: The system aims to strengthen partnerships between VET and higher education institutions and industry players, ensuring high-quality internship experiences.

• Standardization of Procedures: It will standardize processes such as application, selection, and documentation across all participating countries, ensuring fairness and inclusivity.

• Monitoring and Alignment: The platform will track the selection of participants and companies, ensuring alignment of policies across all project countries.

Each partner country will implement its own recruitment system, adhering to national regulations while also aligning with the common framework outlined by the GreenHost project. Specific guidelines for internship participation include academic level, type of internship (curricular or extracurricular), internship duration, and required insurance coverage.

The Online Cooperation Platform will centralize all internship-related information, including applications, validation, and documentation. It will feature both private and public sections: the private section will contain confidential data related to participants and companies, while the public section will showcase available internship offers and public profiles. This platform will ensure smooth coordination and communication among all stakeholders involved in the process.

This initiative is a significant step towards creating a dynamic and transparent recruitment system, fostering collaboration between education and industry while offering valuable international internship opportunities in the tourism and hospitality sectors.