THEGUILD of Business Travel Agents is searching for colleges to offer dedicated business travel courses in order to fill a skills shortage in the industry.
Manager Mike Riddle said there were not enough colleges currently offering the GBTA’s Introductory Certificate in Business Travel, which is run in conjunction with business travel agents.
East Berkshire College in Langley has just become the eighth college to agree to offer the course, starting in September, while Croydon College in Surrey and Brooklands College in Weybridge are set to sign up in the next two months.
Talks are also underway with New College in Nottingham which is interested in running the course.
But Riddle said: “Our objective is to convince those in further education that they need to be more focused when preparing people for careers in travel and tourism.”
He also appealed for more agents to act as partners to the college programmes by offering work experience placements and full-time job opportunities for successful candidates.
Carlson Wagonlit Travel and BTI UK Hogg Robinson are among agents which currently support colleges in this way.
London-based independent Ayscough Travel has just completed an initiative with students in conjunction with Carshalton College, Surrey.
Called the Diamond Challenge, the agency invited students to form agenciesand present a proposal on how they would service the business travel account of a fictitious publishing company. They were judged by Ayscough chairman Don Lunn, director of sales and marketing Carol Bayntun and director business development David Hill. The four winners each received ú100 worth of Virgin vouchers.