To consider a travel and tourism course in Sep

[BetterCallSaul99]

Dd16 has fancied doing the above course for a while now.....until covid hit. Then it seemed it might not be such a good industry to get qualified in so she began to consider other options. 3 different a levels. She's clever enough to do them im sure but after having 6 months off I'm uncertain whether she will want to put the effort in. I fear she will start them and say it's too much like hard work. Whilst at school she only excelled in subjects that really really interested her. She has openly told me she feels dumb opting for the travel course as its an easy option to a levels and she's worried about what others think of her way too much.
She really wants to travel abroad and have fun whilst learning but given the fact that travel is not really happening at the moment would it be stupid for her to enrol on the course? I think her heart says travel but she doesn't want to regret not doing a levels. Any advice appreciated!

I would strongly encourage her to rethink.
Travel industry is in it's knees, and will be for years.
And I would always advise solid A-levels (including a language if possible in this instance?) as a foundation and then take options from there.

Tbh I would encourage her to do the A levels rather than the tourism course. I don't think there's much of a future in that industry.

Absolutely stick with the A Levels. She can always look at the travel industry later down the line but keeping options open and getting as high a qualification as she can is undoubtedly the best thing to do. You’ve said she is clever enough and even a set of A Level results at a ‘C’ grade will put her significantly above a high percentage of her peers.

Why would you deliver yourself into an industry that is on its knees? Competing with people who have years of experience within the industry who are looking for a new job after being made redundant?

Yeah i can totally see that. She is just adamant she wants to go work abroad and I thought doing this course is a good way to do that as well as getting a qualification. What if she starts the a levels though and can't be arsed to put the effort in? I do fear that might happen as she can be a sod at times and unable to see the bigger picture.

If she’d like to work abroad there are so many options she could consider. What is it that she actually wants to do as ‘working abroad’ could mean anything.

Languages as a pp said would be so valuable, as would any kind of business/maths/tech qualification.

Or maybe she’d be interested in moving over to somewhere like Australia at some point for a year or two? I know a few people who did that and had a great time.

I'm not sure what "work abroad" means - I know loads of people who work abroad but in a range of different industries!

A career in travel gives lots of options but she needs to be looking at degree level for the best opportunities rather than just the level 3 course. I've got a couple of friends in travel and they have business degree backgrounds.

It sounds like she needs a good dose of reality check. As others have pointed out it will be many years before the travel industry gets back on its feet. Getting a travel qualification right now would be a pointless waste of time. Are they even running these courses anyway?

Would she get the gcse results to be able to do at least one language at a level and then a languages degree? This gives a fantastic foundation for living and working abroad, especially if she chooses a flexible language such a Spanish.

Working abroad covers basically every job ever, just in a different country. What exactly is it about the travel and tourism course she’s interested in? Has she looked in depth at the modules, the assignments set, what careers people go I to post course? There could be a much better option for her.

I don't think there's much of a future in that industry.

See the Doom-Mongers have arrived...

Of course there is a future in tourism! This child is 16 - by the time she's in her 20s the world will have completely changed. She is at the very start of a career and to say that there's no point considering tourism is bonkers.

I have a lot of friends who spent a couple of years cycling Camp America and ski seasons, a lot of them went on to do further travelling around Australia/NZ before going to university as a mature student and studying something that would guarantee them a visa for Canada/US/Aus/NZ (nursing, social work, primary teaching, OT are the ones that I can think of off the top of my head, just from that friend group although there likely are others).

I don't know that a T&T course actually opens up many opportunities that you can't also have by doing A Levels, but with A Levels you have other options too. I'd advise against it on that basis.

(and before anyone comments asking how anyone can know that many people who took that route I did Camp America for 5 years including recruitment for them so it was a common path for the people I knew).

Well the British people that I know who have gone to 'work abroad' are a university researcher, guides in various sporting activities, a prison officer, people in IT and someone who went to teach English but stayed on there.

I agree that even if the tourism industry revives itself reasonably quickly there will still be an excess of qualified and experienced people compared to available positions so she's likely to struggle to find work in the short to medium term. It's also probably not very well paid as lots of people want to do it.

What sort of job does she imagine herself doing? Is she interested in a particular country? If she did A-levels including an appropriate language and then either arts or science/maths subjects depending on her interests and aptitude, she's keeping her options open while she can see how COVID-19 affects the industry going forwards.

If she wants to work abroad but has no idea what she wants to do, a good general approach is to do language and business courses. She can do those at A level and at uni and both would stand her in good stead if she did want to go into the travel industry but would keep her options open. She could also do a BTEC in Business which would enable her to get into uni if she chose...or she could look at apprenticeships where she would work and go to college.

If she does want to focus on travel get her to do a lot of future scoping - reading articles on the future direction of the sector. it will be a different industry and focused more around experiences and sustainability. It will also be much smaller. See if she can get a part time job in the café at an airport or ferry port, or even some work experience, so she can get a flavour of what it’s like ‘on the ground’ and meet people already working in the field.

If she just has some vague nebulous notion of working ‘abroad’, she needs to bear in mind that Brexit will make it harder for her to get a job abroad, especially in the EU. It’s doable of course, but the EU are choosing to take us at our word when we said we wanted to restrict our movement, so make sure she looks into how visas will operate.

My DD is halfway through a BTEC in a specific industry that is completely dead and I am panicking about it for her. Don’t do it

My DD did the level 3 T&T BTEC 5 years ago, it may have changed since then.

If she works hard and gets good grades then she could still go to university on a related vocational course. There are a variety of modules including business, marketing, customer service, tour rep. Also modules on putting together trips, learning to use the industry flight booking software etc. Our local college has/had its own 'travel shop' where real people could come and book trips with the students.

But you should note this qualification is not a pre-requisite for working in the industry (in comparison say to Childcare).

Despite what people may think it is actually quite hard to get Distinctions as it does require more in depth thinking and ability to research. It was also way more written and way less 'practical' than we had been led to believe.

If she could do A levels that would give her more flexibility for where she goes next. If she doesn't get on with A levels she can restart after 1 year and move to college to do the T&T BTEC. Note if she does the 2 years of A levels and comes out with low grades she won't be able to do another 2 years then.

Working in Europe in general is likely to be impacted by Brexit.

If she wants to work abroad, she should study a language. It will put her a step above all those who travel and assume everyone will speak English.

I know a few people in creative industries who are digital nomads. Basically people who freelance or have fully remote roles, then spend their time moving from country to country living in hostels and AirBnBs. As long as you stay places with decent wifi, its doable. They tend to go places like Thailand, Bali, South America etc. So carers in graphic design, writing or techy stuff could be an option.

If she goes to uni, there are also options for a year of study overseas so she can see if she enjoys it.

It used to be common for school leavers to go off and be a travel rep or work in a bar in Ibiza or similar for a year, which is perhaps more what your daughter is thinking. But I could see Brexit causing issues with this and with unemployment high in tourist areas at the moment, she will be in competition with locals.

Language is something she would enjoy i think. In regard to what she actually wants to do I dont know! Neither does she. That's the problem isn't it. Just turned 16, left school in March and has no idea. She's expected to do fairly well in GCSE's grades between 5/6 and at least two 8/9 grades. But she is terrible at doing homework and would only work hard if she really wanted to. Right now she imagines getting away from this country and working in the sun whilst living it up with boys on a night!! Reality check needed yes but after months spent in her bedroom alone it's hard.

But I could see Brexit causing issues with this and with unemployment high in tourist areas at the moment, she will be in competition with locals

Locals and other Europeans who speak/understand 2/3/4 languages fluently, important in tourist areas that attract holidaymakers from all over Europe.

Having seen the course content and exam papers for travel and tourism BTEC courses, it really is the easy option compared to A-Levels. Having a bit of general knowledge and booked and been on a few different holidays I think I could have a decent bash at getting a pass with no study at all.
As others have said, if she is capable, a language would open up far more doors for working abroad, and having 3 A - levels keeps the options for other study open wider. It's also just a useful skill that she can use for the rest of her life whether for a career or not.

With those grades I'd definitely say A levels.

I'd say A levels too. Nothing wrong with doing some sort of hospitality-related degree in two years' time when hopefully things will be improving and she can get the necessary work experience but will have the academics behind her.

She sounds like me at that age.

I ended up doing a year of international student exchange through Rotary, spending a year at a high school abroad.

Came back and still had a travel bug, went to uni and studied International Business. Loved this because you get to study a bit of everything (e.g. a language, international marketing, management, economics, finance). Ended up doing a university exchange to a Latin American country to hone my language skills.

After uni I ended up living and working in 2 other countries, in global marketing roles. Finally came home 5 years ago after travel bug wore off

I think if she wants to travel, she is better to think about what skill set could help her get jobs abroad that are in demand. There are lots of ways to fulfil the travel element (e.g. exchange, or using a Youth Mobility Visa scheme as I did) but if she has skills that are in demand she will be able to go wherever she wants.

I know a couple of people who work as travel agents. They enjoy their jobs. They normally receive a free holiday to one or two destinations per year examples New York, Sri Lanka. They earn NMW

Personally, I book travel myself on the internet & have not used a high street travel agency for many years