Wednesday 23rd November 2016 was the Tourism and Hospitality @ Bournemouth University Employability day with events in collaboration with the Institute of Hospitality and the Institute of Travel and Tourism as well as brilliant Careers fair and a postgraduate Open Afternoon. 

4 interconnected events aimed to develop the employability and professionalism of Bournemouth University students but also of the local and regional industry. Students from collaborating colleges and other institutions attended too. The aim was to boost career progression and enhance professional development prospects. 

The first event concentrated on Hospitality Management Futures: Knowledge cocreation and future competitiveness @Bournemouth University Department of Tourism and Hospitality. Hospitality Management is challenging and is changing rapidly creating wonderful opportunities for career development for connected and well informed professionals. Bournemouth University Department Tourism and Hospitality is a world leader on Hospitality Management and cocreates knowledge and innovation to enhance the global hospitality industry. Collaborating with the National Coastal Tourism Academy, The Bournemouth Accommodation & Hotel Association and the Institute of Hospitality, Bournemouth University support the professionalism and employability of the hospitality workforce. This event aims to engage aspiring hospitality managers and discuss a range of emerging issues and challenges in an open forum and address some of the hospitality burning issues.

Following a welcome by Professor Dimitrios Buhalis BU Head of Tourism and Hospitality and Anne Harper, Institute of Hospitality the event concentrated on the strategic aspects through the General Manager’s Forum that examined trends, challenges, opportunities. This was chaired by Professor Dimitrios Buhalis and Richard Ward Programme Leader Hospitality. The panel included some of the most experienced General Managers in the region: Andrew Woodland, FJB Hotels, Hugh Hodgins Marriott Hotel Bournemouth, Kevin Wood, Oceana Hotels and Michael Clitheroe, GM, Balmer Lawn Hotel in the New Forest and Anne Harper, Institute of Hospitality. The following panel concentrated on Food innovations and competitiveness. It was chaired by Professor Heather Heartwell and Dr Sean Beer BU Food Experts and was joined by our Executive Chef David Marshall and and Richard Ward our drink expert.

The discussions covered a wide areas of challenges and opportunities including: Professionalism and competence, Evolving customer experience and meeting expectations of the millennials, Sharing economy and the challenge of the self serviced hospitality, Consolidation of hospitality super brands, The opportunities and challenges for small properties and boutique hotels, Brexit and economic situation, Changing labour conditions and the future of hospitality employment, Digital competence and online reputation, Distribution channel management, OTAs and profitability, Food innovations and competitiveness, Zero mile food and sustainability, Food waste management, Wellness and well being, Profitability, yield and profit margins

The Service Sector Careers Fair brought together more than 50 companies recruiting for placements, summer, part time and graduate jobs. Students had the opportunity to network with over 50 Service Sector organisations and find out about Placement & Graduate opportunities. We are very glad that we attracted many different organisations for the first time, including TUI, Thomas Cook, Expedia, Jumeirah Hotels, Balmer Lawn Hotel, Merlin and British Airways. Other more regular visitors included Hilton Hotels, Mal Maison, Qhotels and Carnival. The long list of companies included 

Presentations followed by a wide range of companies that included Expedia, British Airways, Thomas Cook, Merlin, Yummy Jobs, Park Plaza Hotels & Resort, Jumeirah Hotels, WHSmith, ILOVETOUR, GSP Venues

In the afternoon the Institute of Travel and Tourism coorganised with us the ITT Future You offering student the opportunity to discover the benefits and opportunities of pursuing a career in the travel and tourism industry.  The ITT Future You event is a spin-off of the very successful ITT Future You conference that takes place at the World Travel Market each year http://www.ittfutureyou.com/ . It consists of a number of sessions delivered by industry speakers to whet your appetite for the careers that are available to you within the tourism industry. Presentations included Career advice for Tour Operations – Benjamin Bird (TUI),
 Tourist Destination Marketing – Mark Smith (Bournemouth Tourism) and Destination Events – Jon Weaver (Bournemouth Tourism). These inspirational speakers discussed their careers and gave hints and tips on employability and the do’s and don’ts of reaching the top in the Tourism industry. This was followed by workshops delivered by the Appointment Group www.appointmentgroup.com, Stay U-nique www.stay-u-nique.com and Enterprise rent-a-car – www.enterprise.co.uk. During these workshops students explored career opportunities available within these organisations and had the opportunity to ask questions.

In the afternoon we also had the opportunity to have a  Bournemouth University Postgraduate Courses Open Afternoon 23 November to subscribe to our Postgraduate courses https://goo.gl/r89uIy