Thank you to Psyche Hudson and Sarah Bird from Telford and Wrekin Council for coming in to talk with our second year Travel and Tourism students.
Psyche Hudson, Culture & Wellbeing Services Manager, and Sarah Bird, Visitor Economy Place Specialist, took part in a question and answer session with the students who are currently studying a marketing unit as part of their Level 3 Travel and Tourism qualification, where they are evaluating a tourism destination in the UK.
Student Miya Hitch said: “The activity gave me an insight into how the council get an understanding of what consumers want and need to organise events.
“I thought it was interesting how the council looked at their local demographic of people when planning events and aim to offer something different from other local areas.”
The council are currently drafting their five-year Destination Management Plan, looking at leisure and business visitor growth in Telford and used the activity to gain valuable feedback from our students. Some of the students on the course live in Telford and were able to give feedback from their personal experience as a local person, whilst the students from further afield gave feedback as visitors to Telford.
Sarah Bird said: “It was really beneficial to listen to young people about what attracts them to Telford.
“We need more regular feedback from young people to support our approaches to Tourism, events and culture.
“We look forward to meeting students at Shrewsbury Colleges Group in future engagement sessions.”
Psyche Hudson continued: “It was really interesting to hear what inspires young people. I think that the students would benefit from some trips in their local area and they could provide us with feedback from their experience.”
Dan Blasczyk Student Engagement coach at Shrewsbury Colleges group commented: “I was delighted that Psyche and Sarah came into the college to share their career pathway. I’m looking at various ways the students can work with Telford and Wrekin Council in the years ahead as this will give our students invaluable knowledge and work experience of the Tourism sector. The students came up with some really interesting feedback and questions in the session today.”