#03 Meet AKTM

Inside BIAD – 14 partners, one shared ambition

Behind BIAD are 14 partner organisations, each bringing its own expertise, networks and experience to the project. Through this series, we introduce the partners shaping BIAD and the people who turn their organisations’ expertise into concrete project work.

The Antalya Provincial Directorate of Culture and Tourism (AKTM) is the regional public authority responsible for implementing national culture and tourism policies in Antalya, one of the Mediterranean region’s major tourism destinations. Its activities span tourism development and destination management, cultural heritage, sustainable tourism, public policy implementation and cooperation with local stakeholders.

This position gives AKTM a particularly valuable role within BIAD: connecting the project’s research and training activities with the realities of the tourism and hospitality sector. As a public authority partner, AKTM contributes to stakeholder engagement, needs analysis and the development of project outputs, while mobilising its extensive network of public authorities, tourism businesses, industry associations and educational institutions.

A major part of this contribution takes place within WP2 – Preparation and Gap Analysis. AKTM supports the desk research and sectoral analysis, engages tourism stakeholders through workshops and focus groups, and contributes to mapping existing education and training opportunities. Most importantly, the organisation leads Task 2.3 – Surveys, Interviews and Data Analysis. This means developing the research methodology, coordinating data collection across the partnership, implementing surveys and interviews, analysing the results and preparing the cross-country comparative report.

This research role is essential to the wider BIAD process: the evidence collected during this phase will help identify skills gaps and stakeholder needs and feed into the subsequent development of training activities and project outputs.

AKTM will remain involved as these results move into practice. Within WP5, the organisation will support the piloting, testing and validation of the training programmes with tourism and hospitality stakeholders. Through WP6, it will also help disseminate project activities and results through its regional, national and international networks.

The person coordinating this work for AKTM is İrem Karakaş, EU Project Expert and BIAD Project Coordinator. With more than 20 years of professional experience in international cooperation and project management, İrem has worked extensively on Erasmus+ and other EU-funded initiatives in tourism, cultural heritage, digital transformation, vocational education and capacity building. Her career has brought her into cooperation with public authorities, universities, SMEs and civil society organisations across international partnerships.

Within BIAD, she acts as AKTM’s main focal point and ensures that the organisation’s different contributions remain connected throughout the project. Operationally, this includes planning and monitoring activities, coordinating with project partners, mobilising stakeholders, supporting research and analysis, organising local actions, contributing to reporting and managing communication and dissemination activities.

Her role therefore provides the link between AKTM’s institutional position in Antalya’s tourism ecosystem and the day-to-day implementation of BIAD: from gathering evidence on sector needs to engaging stakeholders in testing the solutions developed by the partnership.