Tourism Management students have recently had the privilege of taking part in a series of online talks from guest speakers within the Tourism and Hospitality industry.
Our first special guest was Ian Chapman – Chief Operating Executive for Tui. Ian took time out of his day to present to 65 students via teams. We were fortunate to have Ian discuss how Tui has adapted to the pandemic situation and how the company will succeed moving forward with restructuring and catering for customer needs and expectations. Ian also touched on the qualities in their staff members – they ‘recruit for attitude and train for skills!’ Ian had to leave us to attend a government meeting where Tui are of course eager to open borders and get the planes in the sky again!
Our students were also treated to a very valuable guest speaker: David Bailey, Head of Historic Properties for English Heritage.
We were so fortunate that David offered to present to our students as an enhancement to their ‘Heritage’ module.
A very factual, interesting and insightful discussion linking Heritage to the business of tourism and visitor attractions. Students have used new learning within their assignment work and have also identified places they want to visit in the future!
Ex Runshaw student Kelly-Marie Stanton presented to our Tourism Management students on her exciting career path after her success at Level 3 Tourism Management at Runshaw.
Students were inspired as Kelly Marie discussed the opportunities available for them all. She explained how she had attended UCLAN to study Tourism and Hospitality Management during which time she spent one year at UCLAN’s campus in Cyprus and also spent one year in America working in Hospitality.
Kelly Marie has gone on to study two Master’s Degrees in Hospitality and spent time in China and Korea gaining valuable and very interesting experience. After returning to the UK Kelly Marie worked in London and is now the Guest Relations Manager at the newly refurbished Midland Hotel in Manchester. Once it is fully open students will be visiting the hotel upon Kelly’s invite and enjoying a tour of the facilities and the renovation work and enjoying an afternoon tea.
Our students were also honoured to welcome Sally Dixon – Assistant Director of the Beamish Museum and Andriana Hills – Deputy Director of the Beamish Museum into their homes during lockdown via teams.
Sally and Andriana are experts at ‘storytelling’ through the museum. They provided a great insight into how they have won so many awards, through customer focus, income streams and effective marketing.
- England’s Best told Story Award 2017
Beamish, The Living Museum of the North named as Northern England’s Top Accessible Venue by Euan’s Guide. - Customer Commitment Award – The British Chambers of Commerce’s annual Chamber Business Awards 2019
Students were inspired and learned how to be a ‘storyteller’, why it is important and how to achieve such customer focus and staff commitment. New learning has been included in module assignments: Heritage, Marketing, Customer Service, Story Telling, Visitor Attractions and Hospitality. Click here to visit their website.