WELLNESS AND SPA SERVICES - ONLINE TRAINING EDUCATION AND MANAGEMENT TRENDS

The aim of this study is to present the outcomes of the international project e-TrawellSpa addressed to the health/wellness and tourism specialists. The project was carry out by the effort of specialists in health, tourism, technology from 4 countries (University of Pitesti, University of Craiova, Burgas Free University and IL 59 from Bulgaria, The Telecommunication Systems Research Institute from Crete, Greece and FBI Center from Austria). The main objectives of the project referred to: implementation of e-learning methods in tourism and wellness education; supporting participants in the acquisition of skills and qualification by ensuring validation and recognition of new competencies; offering flexibility in time and location; unifying the teaching styles by using multimedia materials, encouraging self-directed learning and peer support, improvement of language skills. The design of the project included elaboration of an international e-learning platform, national and international reports on the health and tourism resources, specialist training path and perspectives, new curricula development, pilot testing and relevance evaluation of the modules. The national reports introduce a brief picture of the learning needs in wellness and spa professional training. It was based on questionnaires addressed to health students, medical doctors, teachers, managers in rehabilitation medical centres, treatment, wellness and spa centres, hotels, stakeholders. The international reports introduce a comparative picture of learning needs in spa and wellness profession/vocational training across Europe. The aim of the research is to offer a realistic and update image of health tourism system training for partner countries and to present the best practices concerning the current e-learning methodologies in tourism and health education in EU. All issues are essential in the development the curricula and training modules. In this way we assure the fact that the outcomes are really based on beneficiaries and employer's needs. Also presentation of the best practices can represent a real value in providing information for decision makers and other key persons involved in e-learning health and tourism education, beneficiaries and employer's needs. One of the outcomes of the project was designing, testing and implementation of the curricula for organisation and management of spa and wellness centers. It consist on six modules, available on the website of the project (organization of the centers activity, function of the manager, management of the human resources, marketing and advertising, management and working with costumers, financial and legal aspects). We used questionnaires (100) and pilot testing (25) to evaluate the relevance and the impact of the courses on national and international level. The survey was conducted in 4 countries and the results were used to demonstrate the necessity for harmonisation of the training system in health and tourism sector across Europe.