Erasmus Mobility: Fostering Cultural Sensitivity Through Youth Exchange

The recent massive expansion of Tourism has generated intense debate, generally expressing support but, at times, voicing displeasure more than is desirable. This underscores the need for a discussion on sociocultural sustainability. The CultSense project (“Sensitizing Young Travellers for Local Cultures”) addresses these issues, identifying ways to foster young travellers’ cultural sensitivity through education. Students are the next generation of travellers, and Tourism's future and role as a sustainability driver heavily relies on them and their attitudes. A specific context that illustrates the opportunities provided by education to approach these matters is the European Union’s Erasmus+ programme. This research presents the findings of a study undertaken among Erasmus students, at different higher education institutions across specific European countries (namely Portugal, Spain, and Finland). Following a quantitative survey-based methodological approach, this work was designed to achieve five key objectives: analysing students’ behaviours as visitors at the host community using the Cosmopolitan scale (Saran and Kalliny, 2012), exploring their integration experiences, identifying their perceived benefits of the experience – both for themselves and the local communities, understanding students’ perceptions of their impact on the host community and local culture, and examining the likelihood of students’ perceived benefits affecting their willingness to recommend the host country/region. According to the findings, the highest-rated perceived benefits among Erasmus students were experiencing everyday life, broadening horizons, and developing a thirst for travelling, which strongly align with the concept of cosmopolitanism itself. Students have developed a sense of belonging to the community, particularly among those who completed their mobility in Portugal, as indicated by their more positive outcomes throughout the experience as a visitor. Students overwhelmingly disagreed with the assumption that Erasmus participants hurt local culture and, instead, they viewed their contributions positively. Erasmus students’ positive perceptions during their stay in a foreign country will encourage them to spread the word and make them critical informants about local culture and traditions when they return home. Therefore, this study suggests that investing in more positive Erasmus experiences will create a ripple effect, transforming temporary students into long-term ambassadors, who can advocate for more responsible and culturally aware tourism practices.