Target area:	Linking Higher Education & Society
Sub-target area:	Human Resource Development
Target countries:	Thailand, Vietnam
Duration:	15/10/2017 - 14/10/2020
Partners:	FH JOANNEUM Gesellschaft mbH (FHJ) University of Alicante, Spain Haaga-Helia University, Finland Hue University, Vietnam Vietnam National University Hanoi, Vietnam Vietnam National University HCMC, Vietnam Kasetsart University, Thailand Burapha University, Thailand Payap University, Thailand Prince of Songkla University, Thailand The Thailand Community Based Tourism Institute, Thailand Hue Tourism Information and Promotion Center, Vietnam
Budget line:	European Union, Erasmus+

Project description

The tourism industries in Thailand and Vietnam are among the fastest growing in the world and are the employer of a large number of locals. In order to preserve the benefits gained from tourism for the future, it is important to protect the natural resources, the environment and the people. The concept of sustainable tourism, when applied accurately, can support the tourism industry to grow in a sustainable way. The concept itself is rather new to higher education institutions in Thailand and Vietnam and therefore it is essential to increase awareness and understanding of sustainable tourism. This will be done with expert trainings and the introduction of seven competence centers for sustainable tourism and innovative financial management strategies at Thai and Vietnamese higher education institutions.

Through expert training, academic staff, students and companies will receive upgraded knowledge on sustainable tourism and innovative financial management strategies to reach the following aims:

• To spread knowledge of sustainable tourism during the planned counseling sessions within the competence centers,
• To increase the number of projects on sustainable tourism, and
• To make sure that these projects will be funded by innovative financial management strategies to generate a long-term growth of sustainable tourism in Thailand and Vietnam.

To expand the generated knowledge in the project, a network for sustainable tourism and innovative financial management strategies will be established. Furthermore, through the intensive cooperation with companies, associations and governmental bodies throughout the TOURIST project, the university-business cooperation will be improved.

WUS Austria is responsible for the external quality assurance of this project. This includes the lead of the Quality and Ethics Board; three external QA reports incl. recommendations; and the support in the development of the QA plan.