Tourism is very important for the European economy, accounting for over 5% of EU GDP and employing an estimated 15.2 million persons. The employment in the tourism sector presents also an important percentage of the total employment in the partner´s countries of CULTOUR project; France (10.5), Portugal (18.2), Spain (15.8), Turkey (8.4), Italy (11.6) and Bulgaria (12.2). Tourism has one of the highest labour mobility rates across Europe, permitting discussion of the emergence of a truly European economic sector and a labour market with a truly European dimension. Nevertheless, skills shortage in tourism jobs is putting at real risk the employment in the sector. Thus, the identification of skill needs for the sector in Europe has a particular significance. The partners of CULTOUR project have identified that one main area of skills gap in tourism sector is related with the growing requirement of intercultural competencies necessary to deal with customers, co-workers and employees. This skills gap is transversal to the tourism sector and affects a wide range of professional roles, including employees, instructors and employers. A key factor to be taken also into account is that formal qualifications are not always required in tourism and there is a widely available opportunity to obtain qualifications by an alternative to formal education. Taking into account the very high proportion of personnel without formal qualifications, validation of informal and non-formal learning is crucial. The EQF is meant to address this problem and the ECVET tools and methodology should greatly assist with workers mobility. CULTOUR project aims to overcome the skills gap and foster mobility in Tourism sector trough the recognition, validation and up-skilling of intercultural competences for tourism jobs. CULTOUR project shall integrate the intercultural competencies dimension in new VET training products, specifically addressed for tourism sector jobs and use innovative tools for the recognition and validation of these competencies. To do so, six partner organizations (VET providers, companies and social partners) from six countries (France, Spain, Italy, Portugal, Turkey and Bulgaria) will work together to develop CULTOUR project, in order to define innovative common strategies and products to reduce the skills gap of intercultural competencies in tourism sector trough VET. CULTOUR partners will: - identify the specific intercultural knowledge, skills and competences required for tourism sector jobs (IO1 State of the art report); - increase transparency and mobility of tourism professional by means of recognition and validation of intercultural competencies for tourism sector jobs, based on the previous successful curriculum CULTOOL (IO2 ECVET Curriculum); - design new pedagogies and innovative methodologies to train intercultural competencies in tourism jobs (IO3 CULTOUR Handbook) - Upskill teachers and instructors of the tourism sector, both working on VET centers and/or in the industry, on new pedagogies and innovative methodologies to train intercultural competencies in tourism jobs. (IO4 CULTOUR Toolbox) -Empower tourism workers in their capacity to understand and cope with cultural differences (IO4 CULTOUR Toolbox) - Increase labour market relevance of learning provision and qualifications in the tourism sector, reinforcing links between VET and the world of work (IO5 CULTOUR Open Online Center) The main target users of the CULTOUR project products and outputs are teachers, trainers and instructors of the tourism sector, both working on VET centers and/or in the industry. Also VET providers, companies and public and private entities active in the field of Tourism. Final beneficiaries are employees, apprentices, VET teachers and instructors, employers, students and other professionals working, or with previous experience, on the tourism sector. During of the life time of CULTOUR project, the partnership will directly involved 90 VET and in-company teachers, trainers and instructors tutors, 150 professionals working in tourism jobs, 210 participants in research activities, and 485 stakeholders, direct users and beneficiaries of the project activities and products. A wider audience, of a minimum of 1.000 recipients, will be reached at local, regional, national and European level through the planned dissemination activities. CULTOUR shall overcome the skills gap in intercultural competences in tourism jobs and foster mobility in the sector trough the recognition and validation of these competencies. The project will have a direct impact in tourism professionals, improving their intercultural competencies applied to tourism jobs. VET teachers and instructors will benefit as well of the innovative didactic methodologies and tools to train intercultural competencies for the tourism sector. The long term impact envisaged is a strengthening of the tourism sector and the VET system in Europe.