Students from Birmingham Metropolitan College (BMet) attended an international conference in Madrid recently thanks to their success in the Global Travel and Tourism Partnership (GTTP) research competition.
It was the second year in a row that BMet students have taken part in an overseas conference as their prize for winning the competition.
Inspired by the success in 2023, a team of seven second-year students from BMet’s Level 3 Travel and Tourism group entered the competition in spring 2024.
They were Ruby Adams, Lily Allcott, Ruby Allen, Poppy Cooksey, Sian Meenan, Kasumi Holness and Jahmarni Taylor-Mughal.
Ruby Adams and Lily Allcott were selected to attend GTTP’s Student Travel Research Conference in Madrid, along with John Garside, lecturer in travel & tourism and aviation at BMet.
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Their winning project was the creation of a social media recruitment campaign to attract talent to the college’s travel & tourism course.
The campaign was based on their research, which included questionnaires about the social media habits of first-year travel & tourism students and 50 prospective students, who were quizzed during college open days and taster events.
The surveys found that the most popular social media platform was TikTok, so the students filmed their own videos to promote the course on that channel.
Lily Allcott said: “When we were told we had won the competition, I was shocked but also very happy.
“We had worked very hard on the project but also knew that there was a lot of entries from around the UK.”
She admitted she had felt nervous about presenting the project to delegates but added: “Seeing other people speak so well and confidently helped me to realise that it wasn’t as scary as I thought.”
She and Ruby Adams also took an open-top bus tour around Madrid and attended a gala dinner, which included traditional dances and music from participating countries.
“Attending the GTTP conference was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. I have gained new skills and a lot more confidence through this experience,” she added.
As well as the competition winners presenting their research, the conference included a presentation from the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) about industry trends, plus career path presentations from IHG, Marriott, Jacobs Media and Red Carnation Hotels.
Ruby Adams also joined students for a panel discussion about travel and tourism careers, adding: “This was a great opportunity. It was a wonderful insight into careers in the industry.”
She agreed it the conference was a “once-in-a-lifetime experience” and boosted her confidence.
Garside hailed the GTTP competition as “a fantastic project” for current students – and has left a legacy for the college and future students thanks to the development of an “excellent” social media campaign.
“Over the last two years I have really seen the skills that it has developed for my group, in terms of teamwork, communication and presentation, as well as research techniques and their overall confidence levels,” he said.
“This is a real once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for those involved and is wonderful addition to their CV and academic experience.”
Pictured from left: John Garside; Lily Allcott and Ruby Adams, all BMet; with Claire Steiner, UK director at GTTP.