TRANSITION TIMES:Fáilte Ireland, one of many top organisations seeking to promote careers, is hoping to entice Transition Year students as recruits into the tourism sector
I RECENTLY SPOKE TO a third level student who, after finishing his Leaving Cert, went off for a few months to work as a barman on a well-known island in Greece. He explained that in order for his bar to stand out from the numerous others on the same strip, he had to be as friendly and inviting as possible. The best way to do this, he advised, was by learning a few pub tricks with coins, matches and beer mats – “just to break the ice”. This helped customers to relax and gave them something to talk about.
For businesses, successful tourism is a lot about making a place stand out from its competitors. This is usually done through positive marketing, hiring the right people to present a place in its best light and, naturally, having attractions that people are interested in.
Of course, different things will attract different people. No one would envy the job of Hamood Massam al-Yakoubi, the head of the Iraqi Tourism Board. But the war-torn country does receive tourists on Islamic pilgrimage, as well as historical and archaeological enthusiasts.
In short, there are many motivations for being involved in tourism. Ireland’s industry brings billions of euro into our economy, creates thousands of jobs and is vital for some local Irish communities. So it comes as no surprise that Fáilte Ireland is promoting the importance of the sector to Transition Year students. Their Tourism Awareness Programme (TAP) is a comprehensive resource pack which includes a CD-Rom, teachers’ pack and supporting website, and looks at everything from culture and natural resources, to careers and the environmental impact of tourism. The aim? To get more students interested in a tourism-related career when they finish school.
“Most students are very narrow-minded when it comes to tourism,” says Jarleth Boldger, TY co-ordinator at St Mary’s College Knockbeg, Carlow. “They don’t see it as an industry, but simply [as] holidaymakers flying to a destination. Studying this programme makes them realise the vastness of the industry – the importance for the economy and how real it is.”
ASIDE FROM AWARENESS created about the sector, TAP also helps students to appreciate the value of their own locality. “Every year as part of the project we design and manufacture a brochure selling Carlow as a tourist destination,” states Boldger. “This involves researching and sometimes visiting local attractions, which brings the national tourism industry to a local level in their eyes.”
Students in the Mounthawk Secondary School in Tralee did an audit of their locality in order to see what was lacking in the area. Tourism is vital to the economy in Kerry, so generating interest early on could make all the difference in the future.
TY student Sarah Guerin (16) looked at the town of Tralee itself. “We get a lot of tourism around here but the recession has affected numbers,” she says.
“Looking at the town, I think we could definitely improve the Rose of Tralee festival and make it bigger. Festivals always attract tourism. I think we could also improve the nightlife. There aren’t enough discos.”
Sixteen-year-old Diarmuid MacGarry, on the other hand, focused on areas on the outskirts of Tralee. “I looked at coastal places like Fenit and Castlegregory,” he says. “Places like these have such beautiful coastlines, beaches and headlands. But in Fenit, for example, there is only one shop. So it’s a beautiful place for swimming and water sports, but more facilities are needed – if we could get showers in there for the winter, and maybe another shop, I think it would benefit the area.” Sound advice.
Such original thinking can benefit more than your locality, as students from St Mary’s Knockbeg in Carlow learned. For the last two years, TY students there have won the Aldo Papone Award – an international competition open to students from all over the globe to submit a student-researched project of around 1,200 words on a different topic each year. The students, Emmet Jordan and Dave Flanagan, and their teacher, Boldger, travelled to Nice, France to give their presentation, on “Tourism. Who benefits?”
They produced what has been described as nothing less than “a masterpiece” on local Carlow attraction Duckett’s Grove in Clonegal. “Well, the project was close to our hearts,” says Emmet. “Duckett’s Grove Castle is very close to where we grew up and we have fond childhood memories of it. When developing the project we learned lots of research skills and broadened our knowledge of the tourism sector in Ireland. On our trip to Nice we enjoyed meeting so many interesting people – students and teachers – from all corners of the world.”
This year the topic for the Aldo Papone Award is “Sport Tourism”. Anyone interested in TAP can check out www.tourismawareness.ie
Always a welcome: Being the host with the most
Friendliness and good communications skills are key to success in the highly competitive tourism industry, just as the student in the Greek bar discovered.
Remember, customers can always vote with their feet. The quality of food, drink or accommodation on offer must be matched by the quality of staff. The TAP resources stress the importance of such skills for anyone interested in a career in tourism. Why? Because very often the staff at hotels, bars, restaurants or tourist attractions may be the main people that tourists interact with on their holidays.
If staff are friendly, tourists will return home with a positive view of the locals they met. “You really need to be able to communicate and be friendly,” says Mounthawk student, Diarmuid McGarry.
TAP cites some factors that are essential: personal presentation, personal politeness and courtesy, teamwork, effective communication and listening skills. Long gone are the days when the mantra was “the customer is always right”, but in hospitality and tourism it is vital that staff make guests feel as comfortable as possible.
