hospitality & tourism – The Irish Times

[ Higher Options career talks: from architecture to zoology ]

Should you’re fascinated by a profession in hospitality and tourism, expertise and {qualifications} are important, say specialists.

“These programmes will not be as in-demand as another programs, nevertheless, the profession alternatives are phenomenal they usually’re world, not simply native,” says Cáit Noone, head of the Galway Worldwide Resort Faculty at Atlantic Technological College (ATU).

CAO vs different choices

“There are a lot of entry routes into larger training, some shall be via the CAO, however there’s additionally alternatives for individuals to look into entry routes as mature college students and in addition via additional training programs.”

Dr Seán T Ruane of the Shannon Faculty of Resort Administration says worldwide resort administration levels additionally open a “complete number of profession trajectories” for college kids.

“A number of our graduates begin off in hospitality and tourism and lots of of them go on to be entrepreneurs and open up their very own companies,” he says. “A enterprise diploma is a key asset to have the ability to do this.”

Work expertise

Work expertise is important, he says, and hands-on work in accommodations varieties a key a part of diploma choices and hospitality coaching.

“Lifelong studying is one thing which is valued in our trade – however for entry-level college students, having a level is a bonus in transferring faster up via the ranks of administration,” Ruane says.

On employment prospects for hospitality graduates, David Maxwell, managing director of Boojum, says the trade is rebounding after the impacts of the pandemic and that the trade “hires for values and teaches expertise.”

“I might encourage most individuals to achieve out, slightly than to doubt your self. Very often you’ll be pleasantly stunned, we’re an incredible trade for constructing resilience, empathy and studying the right way to work inside a workforce,” he says.

Max Reid, a scholar who studied worldwide tourism and administration at ATU, agrees.

“It’s such a broad trade the place you may shoot off in so many various instructions as you climb the ladder and achieve success,” he says.

Reid spent three months on placement in New Zealand as a part of the course, the place he labored in an Irish bar. He says the programme allowed him to “get nice expertise within the enterprise facet of hospitality and realized about how a profitable enterprise works.”

He recommends individuals to affix the sector if they’re fascinated by journey “What higher course to go for,” he says.

Interview carried out in 2021