The CDP Foundation became involved, as a founding partner, in the Italian School Foundation to pursue the Education Sector’s "training and social inclusion" objectives, in support of initiatives that support younger generations and promote the educational development of human resources.
Context and partnership The tourism sector is vitally important to Italy's national economy, accounting for 13 percent of GDP (compared with 14 percent in Spain and 9 percent in Germany and France) and 15 percent of employment (compared with 15 percent in Spain, 13 percent in Germany and 9 percent in France).
However, over the past 10 years, the competitiveness of Italy's tourism sector has come under pressure from other European destinations, particularly Spain and the United Kingdom, resulting in the domestic market growing by just 4.5 percent annually, which is lower than the European trend (around 6 percent annually over the past 10 years). Several critical issues, including the lack of dedicated training programmes, are to blame for the decline in the competitiveness of Italy’s tourism sector. The countries with the most competitive tourism sectors, such as Switzerland, the UK and the US, have numerous universities that offer specialist courses in hospitality management. More specifically, the training is based on the Hotel School model, which is considered the most effective model in developing skills that are key in the hospitality sector.
In light of the training gap that has marred the Italian tourism sector, the Italian School of Hospitality was established based on the Hotel School model and aims to become Italy’s leading school for hospitality training, as well as a leading institution abroad. The Italian School of Hospitality Foundation was established in 2019 by TH Resorts and CDP to improve the competitive edge of the tourism sector by offering advanced professional training to create new managers and promote the qualitative growth of Italian hospitality. The project The Italian School of Hospitality Foundation provides bachelor’s-degree, master’s-degree and other specialist courses that integrate classroom training with hands-on experience on site, and is growing in Italy through its partnerships with prestigious universities and operators in the tourism industry, which may themselves join the ISH. Through the training it provides, the ISH aims to make Italy a more attractive destination and to reduce the gap between the needs of companies in the tourism sector and the skills of workers.
By supporting the School's endeavours, the CDP Foundation, in its capacity as a founding member, will contribute to:
To learn more about the Italian School of Hospitality and its training programmes, please click here.