A Student Tourism Conference was held for the first time at Forth Valley College’s Stirling Campus recently.
Key industry players exhibited at the event on Monday 30 October, which attracted around 80 students from FVC travel and tourism programmes from NC to BA (Hons) level.
Jennifer Hogarth Curriculum Manager in the FVC’s Department of Business opened the proceedings and welcomed speakers included Marc Crothall, Chief Executive of the Scottish Tourism Alliance, Kat Brogan, Managing Director of Mercat Tours, Tracey Martin, Economic Development Officer for Visit Falkirk and Falkirk Council and Ishbel Moffat owner of Vintage VW Campers. Bob Armstrong – Head of FVC’s Department of Business gave the vote of thanks.
Various information stalls and workshops were also available for students to access on the day and it proved to be a great networking opportunity for the next generation of tourism professionals.
Jennifer Hogarth, said:
“This was a fantastic event, the main purpose of which was to allow our learners to hear from some key industry players and to network with some local tourism businesses. It was great to see them engaging with the sector – there was a real buzz going on! They key messages that came out of the day was the fact that tourism is a vibrant and dynamic sector with a huge variety of career opportunities and the key to success for our learners is collaboration, passion and a can-do-attitude. It is clear to see they all have very bright futures ahead!”
Marc Crothall, Chief Executive of the Scottish Tourism Alliance, said:
“It was an absolute pleasure to attend the conference and presenting to this group of young people, all passionate about pursuing a career in what Scottish Government has referred to ‘Scotland’s most important industry’. It’s pleasing to know there is a pipe line of committed young people keen to join and be part of our industry. I would like to congratulate Forth Valley College Stirling for organising an event of this type, clearly a huge success and an important one ahead of the Year of Young People 2018.”