On 20 January, 5 Senses led the training session Holy Grail: Mystic routes and activities as part of the Holy Grail project to the Malta Union of Tourist Guides at the Institute of Tourism Studies. The event was very successful, attended by 25 tour guides and many other guests and collaborators.

The Holy Grail project is EU-funded through the ENT-CIP programme and aims to plan, promote and spread the Holy Grail's spiritual and cultural route by identifying and selecting tangible elements such as cathedrals and symbolic places; intangible elements including history, culture and traditions; as well as mysteries such as emblematic places describing characters, legends, historical figures and myths.

The project is led by the University of Zaragoza and includes eight international project partners from Spain, Greece, Bulgaria, Malta and Great Britain. Malta is represented by 5 Senses. The project has a budget of €266,456. It started in August 2014 and ended last month.

The project proposes two possible routes that the Holy Grail has taken to reach its final resting place in the Cathedral of Valencia, Spain. One route is based on the Arthurian epic, where it is believed that the Holy Grail started its journey in the UK and travelled through France until it reached Spain, while the other route focusses on spirituality and religion with the Holy Grail travelling by sea from Bulgaria to the Greek Islands of Kos, Rhodes and Crete and then across to Malta, before reaching Spain.

The first part of the training session focussed on providing background information about the project, its objectives and deliverables as well as the organisations and partners involved. The Holy Grail's origin and connection to Malta were also explored. Furthermore, a possible Holy Grail route within Malta was revealed. This route could be used as a basis for tours around Malta's main cultural attractions.

After a short break, the training session continued with a lecture delivered by Dane Munro, an independent scholar, lecturer, cultural interpreter and guide based in Malta. He is an expert in his field and 5 Senses collaborated with him for this prestigious project. Mr Munro explored some of the main myths and legends relevant to the Holy Grail.

The Holy Grail tour adds to the quality of the tourism product by improving strategic tourism, strengthening the local economy around the route, enhancing a greater and more rapid growth of the tourism offering and providing economic benefits in each region. This project gives added value to Malta's undiscovered yet rich religious heritage by adding tourist value to the social and economic environment and by creating a new cultural route. The project ultimately aims to increase religious tourism in Malta.

Recently, the Maltese legislation has been amended allowing tour guides to organise their own tours. 5 Senses' research on the Holy Grail route has led to new product development opportunities for tour guides, thus being another opportunity to increase local religious tourism.

5 Senses prides itself on being involved in projects for sustainable tourism and aims to use tourism as a force for economic, cultural and social change, supporting the delivery of successful projects in a way that ensures benefits for all visitors, local communities and stakeholders. 5 Senses has been the ideal partner for the Holy Grail project since the company works towards providing quality products and services that target tourism, hospitality, culture and heritage. 5 Senses has links with important stakeholders from the tourism sector and also boasts a network of qualified, expert researchers able to conduct research on such a specific topic. 5 Senses plans to collaborate on many more such projects in the future.