Spires Travel owner Paul Knapper has backed the next generation of travel agents for success after entrusting his apprentice to run his agency’s shop while he helped a local college take travel and tourism students to Malta.
Knapper was happy to task 19-year-old Scarlett Hodges with managing the store on her own while he accompanied Heart of Worcester College staff members and 35 students on a three-night trip at the start of this month.
Hodges then took charge for a further three days the following week while Knapper attended a friend’s 40th birthday celebration in Portugal.
Praising her performance, Knapper encouraged other agencies to consider recruiting apprentices if they were not already doing so.
“A lot of people came out of the industry during Covid-19 and sometimes I think we’ve got to give a chance to an apprentice and let them train on the job,” he said.
Knapper, whose shop is based in the college’s All Saints Building, was asked to go on the Malta trip because only three staff members from the college were available and the number of students meant four adults were required.
“All the students were really well behaved and wanting to learn, and I really enjoyed it,” he said.
Knapper had met some of the students before, but the trip provided a chance to meet more of them and have one-to-one conversations.
“I see it as my job to try to inspire the ones who might want to work in a travel agency,” he said.
Every year, Spires Travel gives work placements to four students on the college’s travel and tourism course and each of the business’s full-time recruits has been a graduate from the course.
Hodges, who joined the agency as an apprentice in June last year, is due to finish her apprenticeship through AS Training at the start of June.
Asked about her time running the shop on her own, she said: “It went really well. I’m kept busy, so the days go quickly – I blink and it’s 5pm.”
Hodges made a number of bookings in the six days, including city breaks, a Titan Travel tour in South Africa and a villa stay in Crete. Knapper was available throughout to provide support via phone and email.