Tourism

Tourism

Despite a shuddering drop of 12% in foreign visitor numbers last year, tourism remains a bulwark of the Irish economy employing well over 100,000 people.

A career in tourism can be extremely broad, from carting a group of Irish-Americans via the Ring of Kerry to organising a Patrick Kavanagh pub-crawl around Dublin: the possibilities are both endless and diverse. The industry calls for its employees to have a high level of specialisation and training, and foreign language capabilities are also very beneficial to your prospects.

Despite our island status Irish people are well above the European average for taking holidays abroad, so for people with the right combination of business and marketing skills, a course in the holiday provision could also be an excellent opportunity.

Education

School leavers interested in tourism have a number of CAO options to choose from at ordinary degree and honours degree level. Courses titles to look out for include Tourism, Tourism Marketing, Travel & Tourism, Business and Tourism, and Tourism Management. The institutes of technology provide all third level tourism programmes.

Students taking a third-level course in Tourism will encounter a mixture of tourism-specific subjects such as Heritage, Culture & Tourism, International Tourism and Eco-Tourism, as well as general business modules like Financial Accounting, Human Resource Management and Marketing. Courses generally feature a language option (French, Spanish, German or Italian), while IT and Tourism Law courses are also included. There may be opportunities to spend a semester abroad, or to take a work experience placement as part of the course.

There are also a large number of further education courses available in Tourism. The most widely available course is Tourism & Travel, which is good preparation for the travel agency and tour operator industries. Typical modules in a plc tourism course include Travel Agency, Retail and Service Skills, Customer Relations, Information Technology, Marketing and Tourism Analysis.

The Work

A tourism officer essentially promotes a particular area – local, regional or national. The work involves devising and co-ordinating marketing campaigns, producing tourist information and organising festivals, events and exhibitions. It can also mean travelling to other countries to generate interest in your area, and working with local tourism businesses to help them improve their facilities and attract more customers. Some tourism officers work in specific areas, such as heritage tourism or genealogy tourism.

Tourism Reps are usually employed by a tour operator or hotel and tend to work in popular holiday destinations and resorts. The basic brief is look after, and possibly travel with, a group of tourists; greeting them at the airport, showing them the sights, organising activities, selling longer day trips, and also dealing with problems that arise such as lost luggage or faulty showers.

Travel agency staff helps customers to decide on their holiday and travel plans. This involves checking the availability of tour packages, flights, hotels, car hire and coach operators, and making bookings on behalf of their clients. They also advise on issues such as vaccinations, visas, passports, insurance, weather conditions, restaurants and tourist attractions.

Did you know?

The number of international tourists rose from 25 million in 1950 to an estimated 806 million in 2005.

Further Resources

• Tourism Ireland: www.tourismireland.com
• Irish Travel Agents Association (ITAA): www.itaa.ie
• Picktourism.ie: www.picktourism.ie