The EU tourism industry has difficulties in attracting the necessary skills and is confronted with a high turnover in personnel.This is due to a mismatch between the demand for skills from the tourism sector and current skills supply provided through education and training, as well as the sector's reputation for sometimes unfavorable working conditions- especially in HORECA sector.(Study on the Competitiveness of the EU tourism industry. Final Report, 2009). A problem related to small and medium enterprises is ensuring the continuation of the company after the first generation and, connected with this, the transfer of knowledge.The aim of the project was profesionalization of HORECA companies on the European level through using the model of strategic competence management for individual and professional development of employees and defining common competence standards. In the context of EU and national policies, the particular aims of the project included:- defining and promoting on the European level standard of competence essential for the chosen professions of tourism industry- promoting in small and medium-sized enterprises strategic thinking about the company and employee competence- defining the needs of an employee training on the basis of competence research in an easier way- unification of the model of strategic competence management and development plan based on the strategic company plans- creation of and easy-to-use competence management tool in small and medium-sized enterprises- strengthening the synergy between the systems of continuing education in tourism industry in partner countiesThe Partners of the project were companies and institutions from countries where tourism is an essential sector of economy. They were chosen in a way that content-related and organizational possibilities could be provided. The main criteria for choosing the partners were: appropriate potential in training and HR consulting, experience in realizing training projects, including international ones, access to a wide representation of communities to which the project results will be aimed at. The partners are both, private companies working for profit as well as non-profit institutions and organizations.The project brought amongst other the following main results:- Competence Model - a set of standardized strategic competences for 5 job positions in HORECA sector- increase of awareness and knowledge about strategic competence management among SMEs - at least 1500 people took part in seminars and conferences; project outputs, of which the Compete! tool is of the most important for companies, are available on the website and CD in 6 languages.- provide the SME with the ICT tool for competence management- unification of approach to competence evaluation and development of competences