CETEM is set to become the hub of innovation in the hospitality and tourism sectors, bringing together 35 experts from 21 organisations across 9 different countries

The TourXpeRience project meeting (Nurturing Entrepreneurial Teaching and Learning for VET Excellence in Tourism Education) has made CETEM the hub of educational innovation. This international initiative aims to modernise vocational training in hospitality and tourism by incorporating XR (Extended Reality) technologies, with the aim of updating curricula, providing resources for teachers and equipping students with skills, digital competences and environmental awareness. The project has 21 partners from 9 different countries (Italy, Spain, Greece, Slovenia, Germany, Austria, Portugal, Poland and the Netherlands), including the UPCT, the SEF and CETEM as Spanish representatives.

The meeting in Yecla, which is taking place over two days (13 and 14 May), combines a strategic review of the project with technical training. On the first day, the consortium assessed the progress made by the project to date and drew up a roadmap setting out the next steps to be taken by the members. In the second working session, CETEM is running a practical workshop for teachers, focusing on the development of Extended Reality scenarios through demonstrations using state-of-the-art devices such as the Meta Quest 3 headset.

Within this training-focused project, CETEM plays a key role as the technology provider within the consortium. On the one hand, the Centre is leading the development and roll-out of the online learning platform that will host all the training material developed as part of the project. At the same time, it coordinates the creation of XR (Extended Reality) exercises applied to vocational training in tourism, including 20 Augmented Reality (AR) scenarios, 5 Virtual Reality (VR) scenarios, and 1 Mixed Reality experience with content applied to sustainable tourism.

This is an Erasmus+ project, co-funded by the European Commission, which began in February 2025 and will end in January 2029, and is coordinated by the International Centre for the Promotion of Education in Italy (CEIPES). Through this event, CETEM is establishing Yecla as a leading centre for technology transfer in key sectors of the European economy.

Furthermore, as this is a hospitality and tourism project, CETEM, as the host of this meeting, has organised a guided tour of Yecla’s most iconic sites and, taking advantage of the town’s popular San Isidro festivities, has highlighted their unique character, showing consortium members how the floats that will take part in the grand parade on Saturday 16 May are being built on site. Likewise, they will have the opportunity, as is customary at CETEM for every meeting held at its facilities, to sample Yecla’s cuisine and, in particular, its spectacular wines, thereby contributing to the international promotion of Yecla’s gastronomy, oenology and history.