The European Union is offering participants in Greek tourism a free online training course, as part of a push to upgrade the sector in key markets, said a non profit group running the program in Greece on Tuesday.

Under the IdEATE program, job seekers and small and midsized enterprises have the opportunity to participate in a pilot 20 hour online training course put together by representatives from 6 countries (Italy, France, Spain, Finland, Belgium and Greece).

The Academy of Entrepreneurship (AKEP), a non profit organisation, is handling the two year program for Greece. Those interested in taking part in the training need to fill out an application online http://jobseekers.tourismcareers.eu/ (for jobseekers) and http://smes.tourismcareers.eu/ (for SMEs).

AKEP is also organising a workshop providing extra information on the training program at its offices (Tsiller 61, Athens) on February 15 at 1800.

Georgios Papageorgiou, head of department, International Tourism and Hospitality at DEREE-The American College of Greece, will speak at the workshop on “Tourism and hospitality education: trends and opportunities in skill development”

The IdEATE initiative aims at securing the sustainability of growth in tourism, helping countries like Greece broaden the traditional sea and sun model adopted and introduce more innovative diverse methods.

“Greece is showing strong growth in tourism but that doesn’t mean that the quality is fully there. Low skilled workers might be holding the sector back and this is a problem that also exists in other European countries and Brussels has decided to take action,” said Alessandro Carbone, Tourism department director at AKEP.

The program will train job seekers on communications, soft skills and the media markets. SMEs will be trained on soft skills, along with selection and recruitment and professional needs assessment. The course will be held in English and participants will receive a certificate of participation.