Touring and adventure suppliers urged to embrace apprenticeships

Touring and adventure suppliers have been urged to take on apprentices in their businesses.

 

AS Training managing director Michelle van Sprang issued the plea at the Association of Touring and Adventure Suppliers (Atas) Summit 2025.

 

“We need more engagement from the touring and adventure sector. I cannot stress enough how an apprentice can enhance the workplace,” she said, adding: “They bring a different vibe, a different quality, to the workplace.”

 

She said employing apprentices was a “no-brainer” for travel companies, particularly when 95%, or in some cases all, of the costs are government-funded.

 

Other sectors such as engineering, customer services and HR, were already “smashing it” in terms of apprenticeship take-up, she said.

 

Van Sprang insisted: “Apprenticeships are 95% to 100% funded by the government. If an apprenticeship is £10,000, you [the employer] have to pay £500. It costs you [employers] nothing or a very small amount.”

 

She attributed a lack of understanding of the apprenticeship process among travel businesses as the reason why the sector was not as engaged as it should be, but acknowledged take-up was rising.

 

Training is not just for school leavers but for any age group, she said. AS Training has 300-400 learners on its books at any one time and offers 16 qualifications up to leadership level (level 5).

 

She added: “We are seeing the numbers going up but I would like to see them shoot up.”

 

Atas director Claire Brighton told the summit she had successfully taken on Evie Sutherland as an apprentice through AS Training after interviewing 10 candidates, which was whittled down to three at the second interview.

 

“I can’t lie, it is cheaper to have an apprentice, but that wasn’t the key driver [for taking on one] – we wanted to bring new talent into the industry,” she said, adding: “I couldn’t have asked for a better fit because I can give her a task and she can get on with it.”

 

Sutherland is on a 15-month content creator apprenticeship with AS Training finishing in October. She said the move into the workplace had worked wonders for her confidence.

 

“I didn’t know what to expect, I had never worked in an office. I now have all these skills and I’d love to stay in the industry,” she said.