Research (VocMat Research Report & VocMat 2 Research Report) carried out at European, national and local level within the VocMat Pilot Project identified skills and knowledge gaps amongst tourism managers, in both private and public sector, mainly due to the barriers to high-level vocational training that exist within training and education.
At present, with the exception of a limited offer of short courses and a very few enlightened initiatives, high-level tourism management training is mainly available within universities and colleges. This means that managers have to leave the workplace which presents problems because of lack of time; high costs; replacement of staff on training; access and distance to training courses; and training not being available in the workplace or accessible at home.
The VocMat model was developed to address these barriers.
