Social media (web 2.0) is paramount in initiating economic potential and improving customer services and relations within the tourism industry; customers are now engaging in social media and businesses need to respond in order to contribute to a competitive European tourism industry. This project responds by adapting an innovative model which combines formal and informal learning delivered flexibly, online tailored to the culture and the workplace, to provide a solution to the need for management level training and engagement in social media within the tourism industry. It aims to create, through transfer and adaptation of innovative content from Trinity University College Carmarthen, Wales, an accredited qualification in social media (web 2.0) combining formal and informal collaborative online learning for the European tourism industry. Formal learning will be based on collaborative online learning based within a Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) – this learning will be further developed within an informal context through the establishment of an online collaborative community for the tourism industry. The project consortium, through the engagement of the target group of tourism micro-businesses and SMEs throughout the project, aims to produce a tangible product which can be commercialised and rolled out to the wider European context. The project partners, from Wales, Sweden and Bulgaria represent a combination of education, IT consultancy and grassroots tourism industry partners who together have the skills necessary to adapt a training programme specifically for the needs of the European tourism industry, which is culturally and sectorally adaptable. Short term impact includes increased confidence, qualification levels, skills development, knowledge exchange and lifelong learning – which will take place within a transnational context. Longer term impact includes increased business yield, customer satisfaction and the creation of a pan European learning network for the tourism industry