CONTEXT OF PROJECT: Starting from the finding that in Malta the CULTURAL TOURISM concept is not yet well defined, the TiM project aims to combine TOURISM and CULTURAL HERITAGE for a professional cultural tourism management. Cultural Tourism is the point at which culture, which defines in large part our identity as a society, meets tourism, which is a leisure activity pursued by people with an interest in observing or becoming involved in that society. The strategy for Cultural Tourism lies at the heart of the broader strategy for developing QUALITY TOURISM in Malta. Also, according to the European Union, tourism, and especially cultural tourism deserve priority attention as it has become recognized as an important agent of economic and social change in Europe. The cultural tourism market in Europe is therefore becoming increasingly competitive. Traditional cultural attractions are having to reassess their role as the pressure to generate visitor income intensifies, and the need to compete with a new generation of commercial tourist attractions grows. MAIN OBJECTIVES: - Improve entrepreneurial and technical practices of young learners / school leavers / skilled in the field of tourism and cultural heritage; - Create synergies between education and the labour market; - Encourage innovation and cultural attention whithin entrepreneurial spirit, from the ground of the future society; - Strengthen and develop practical young professional profiles to be specific and potentially classifiable as: 1. new entrepreneurs, able to generate quality business tourism highly competitive; 2. within the Maltese tourism context, as capable of bringing innovation and adaptation to the cultural tourism concept and the European cultural tourism rules; - Sensitise the young and future / aspiring tourism operational Maltese class to the real assessment of the importance of heritage advancement and sponsorship and the interactions between economies. NUMBER AND PROFILE OF PARTICIPANTS: TiM addresses to 10 participants in VET, which must be all VET recent graduated or students at the Centre for Cultural and Heritage Studies (CCHS) of ITS , still in age between 18 and 35 years old at the time of signature of the individual contract. The educational background required for a candidate refers to the sectors of museology, exhibition management, strategies and techniques of heritage communication, administrative knowledge applicable to the management of heritage centres and operational activities connected to the TOURISM AND CULTURAL HERITAGE CONTEXT. ACTIVITIES: TiM project offers the possibility to develop a VET internship, which carries the added value of internationality. It gives the opportunity to have a full-immersion period in the cultural tourism context of a different European Country, through concrete activities, analytical studies and training courses, all highlighted by effectiveness and specificity. The selected foreign companies are strongly talented for their own strategic tourism business plans and cultural heritage interest generated within international tourism markets. METHODOLOGY: The project has chosen Italy as European country of destination, for its characteristics and its neighborhood to Malta, under Km close distance but especially for its wealth in cultural and historical heritage which catches many people visiting Italy each year. MVC, applicant organisation, works synergistically with the foreign intermediary and hosting companies located in the foreign Country. The entire partnership (national and foreign) is, by missions, addicted to encourage KNOWLEDGE and SECTORAL SKILLS, operating with synergistic action between EDUCATION and VOCATIONAL WORK TRAINING, encouraging the development of entrepreneurship and the attainment of qualifications for fill in the gaps at skills level. RESULTS: - improving entrepreneurial and technical practices in the field of cultural tourism and heritage; - strengthening the capacity of access to the labor market; - strengthening cultural innovation and heritage attention whithin entrepreneurial spirit, from the ground of the future society; - improving the language skills. IMPACT: The impact is strong on the cultural tourism concept: is a driving force to obtain a qualitatively high feedback on the national tourism business and cultural heritage context; it also creates a pool of national human resources strategic to encourage adaptation and innovation and to support the strengthening of tourism policies in the cultural heritage context. On the LONG TERM, the TiM project: - with the added value of internationality, generates broadmindedness and adaptation and provides the right tools to compete in the world.; - with its objectives, is contributing to the cultural challenges so that the EU can becoming the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy in the world.