Germany’s national event: Bringing PANTOUR to the heart of the German tourism sector

On 27 April 2026, Germany’s second National Conference took place at the Spargel- und Erlebnishof Klaistow in Brandenburg – not in a conference room, but on the floor of the GASTRO 2026 Brandenburg Industry Day, one of the region’s flagship annual trade events for the hotel and gastronomy sector. This strategic choice reflected PANTOUR’s approach in Germany: reaching tourism professionals where they already are, rather than asking them to attend a separate EU project event.

The event was organised by EVBB – Germany’s national PANTOUR partner – in collaboration with BK Consult GmbH, the German NRSP coordinator, and with the support of DEHOGA Brandenburg, the regional hotel and gastronomy association whose Managing Director, Olaf Lücke, publicly acknowledged the NRSP’s presence at the industry day during his welcome address.

 

A skills partnership meets the hospitality supply chain

Over the course of the day, representatives engaged in individual conversations and brief presentations with exhibitors and visitors from across the hospitality supply chain. The breadth of organisations present reflected the full ecosystem of the German hospitality sector: food service distributors, digital payment and management systems providers, sustainability consultancies, insurance companies, and professional training institutions.

 

Two organisations in particular stood out as directly relevant to PANTOUR’s objectives:

The Deutsches Privatinstitut für berufliche Fortbildung & Digitalisierung (BFD) – a nationally recognised digital training provider for the hospitality sector, offering eight certified courses covering digitalisation, AI for service staff and kitchen staff, sustainable digital solutions and digital leadership. The BFD’s courses are eligible for Federal Employment Agency funding, making them highly accessible. Given PANTOUR’s focus on digital skills development, BFD represents a natural potential partner for implementing project outputs in the German context.

Sigma Akademie – a Berlin-based vocational training provider operating in the building cleaning and facilities sector, the largest employer sector in Germany. AZAV-certified and equipped with real-world training environments (including a replica hotel room), Sigma Akademie’s approach to practical, hands-on learning directly mirrors the PANTOUR Skills Lab methodology. The conversation opened the door to potential cooperation on PANTOUR output testing and upskilling delivery.

 

Key themes from the day’s discussions

Conversations with exhibitors and visitors clustered around several recurring themes that reinforce PANTOUR’s core findings:

• Digital transformation as an operational necessity: Multiple suppliers – from payment systems (hobex, Lightspeed) to management software (MEWS PMS, SoftTec) to communication platforms – reinforced that digital skills are no longer optional for hospitality staff at every level.
• Sustainable practices under pressure: Interest in green certification (GreenSign/TÜV) and sustainable product sourcing (Igefa, Mewa, Fliegel Textilservice) signals that green skills are increasingly relevant across all job roles, not only for dedicated sustainability managers.
• Upskilling as a competitive advantage: Training providers at the event confirmed that demand for structured, certified upskilling in hospitality is growing – and that there is an unmet need for European-level frameworks like PANTOUR to connect national training offers to wider skills strategy.

 

About the German NRSP

The German National and Regional Skills Partnership (NRSP) was established in early 2026 under the PANTOUR project, building on the German Tourism Knowledge Triangle created through the TourX project (Erasmus+ CoVE initiative, 2022–2026). It brings together 69 member organisations from the Berlin-Brandenburg region, representing the tourism industry, vocational education and training providers, and public sector authorities.

The mission is to identify digital, green, ecological, intercultural and socio-cultural skills needs in the German tourism sector and to support the development of appropriate training responses. Its activities feed into PANTOUR’s European Skills Strategy for Tourism 2026–2036.

The first event was held on 26 March 2026 at the GINN Hotel Berlin-Potsdam in Teltow, immediately following a presentation by EVBB Secretary General Theodor Grassos at the DEHOGA Brandenburg Fachgruppensitzung, where PANTOUR’s competency framework was introduced to the hotel and gastronomy sector group.