The Grenada Tourism Authority (GTA) has successfully completed its ‘Career Series’ in 20 secondary schools across the tri-island state.
The GTA team shared with over 500 students in forms three and four, the many career opportunities that the industry has to offer and the important role tourism plays in the economy and their lives.
Presently, the industry employs over 10,000 people and contributes almost a quarter to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) through direct and indirect sources. The GTA also partnered with its stakeholders who joined in to share with the students what they do to support the industry. Stakeholders included Tri-Island Chocolate, the Grenada Airports Authority (Air Traffic Control and Meteorological Office), Budget Marine Grenada, Mt Cinnamon Beach Resort, Edwin Frank (Tour Guide) and St James Travel and Tours. The students were keen and asked questions about how they could get into the different career fields.
The Career Series included presentations, videos and role-play to encourage the students to start thinking about a career in tourism such as becoming a tour guide capable of speaking different languages, tour operator, hotel manager, divemaster, chef, marketer, content creator, mixologist among others. One of the roleplays in the presentation was the use of foreign currency in showing how the tourist dollar could circulate and trickle down from a visitor to a restaurant, to a farmer, supermarket worker and then finally to a student.
CEO of the GTA, Patricia Maher joined the team at Westerhall Secondary School to inspire and encourage the students. She told the students, “You may see something unique within your community that you think can become a tourism experience. Remember everyday activities that you enjoy are often times what excites the visitor about the destination. As future contributors to the tourism industry, I encourage you to pursue these ideas, turn them into businesses and cooperatives, to the benefit of your community and country.”
Forming a major part of the Career Series was a discussion on the environment. The GTA debuted a video featuring its tourism mascot ‘Nutasha’ and the ‘Litterbug’ character highlighting the consequences of littering on the environment and tourism. Product Development and Research Manager at the GTA Kirl Hoschtialek said, “We are Pure Grenada, the Spice of the Caribbean and we encourage you to become tourism ambassadors by keeping our islands clean.”
The Career Series was a major activity of Tourism Awareness Month being commemorated under the theme “Promoting Careers and Sustainable Livelihoods in Tourism.”
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