What are SMAPs?

SMAPS – Small and Medium Sized Accommodation Providers in Nepal and Sri Lanka – were selected in each country in order to reinforce economic growth through capacity building and know-how transfer. Central issues are: upgrading the product and service quality of SMAPs, trainings in information based technologies, etc.

Who we are and what we are doing?

The ‘we’ in the answer consists of different partners from Austria, Nepal and Sri Lanka. The head of the European Union Project is Hilfswerk Austria (HWA) with the following sub-partners: Hotel Association Nepal (HAN), International School of Tourism and Hotel Management in Nepal (IST), Sri Lanka Institute of Tourism and Hotel Management (SLITHM), Sri Lankan Tourist Board (SLTB), International Tourism and Hotel Management Salzburg (ITH), Salzburg University of Applied Sciences (FHS) as well as the Salzburg University of Applied Sciences Research Unit (FHS Research). We all are running the European Union funded Project ‘SMAPs - Strengthening the Capacities of Small and Medium Sized Accommodation Providers in Nepal and Sri Lanka in order to develop New Business Opportunities through Quality Upgrade, eTourism Know-how and Networking’.

As the project was started in September 2007, three years later - in August 2010 - a final Regional Symposium was conducted in Kathmandu, Nepal. The participants of the Symposium - Nepalese and Sri Lankan Projet Responsibles, SMAPs and Project Partners such as Tourism Schools and Touristic Associations as well as Austrian Partners and Experts provided different results and experience reports of the project.

The last Research Report can be found and downloaded here, and the Research Presentation here.

The Project Team: