Tourism students to get chance to join BHTA

Tourism and hospitality students will soon have the chance to join the Barbados Hotel and Tourism Association (BHTA) and benefit from a range of opportunities under a revamped Student Tourism Education Programme (STEP).

Chairman of the BHTA Renee Coppin made the disclosure during a media conference on Thursday, as she announced plans for the BHTA’s 70th year of celebration this year.

Promising further details on the STEP initiative which is to be officially announced as part of the celebrations, Coppin said it was aimed at developing “another set of leaders and future tourism employees, owners, entrepreneurs and employers into our fold”.

“We are looking to basically have all the students who are studying tourism across the various organisations in Barbados, from the secondary schools – Ellerslie, Lodge and Alexander, which have tourism programmes – right through to our Jean and Norma Holder Hospitality Institute [formerly PomMarine Hospitality Institute], pay a nominal fee to be part of the association and become a part of our database and get opportunities for networking, opportunities for interacting with our members.

“We are going to create greater collaboration between ourselves and them, and of course, they will have access to discounts from our member properties and entities. So we see that as a really exciting initiative that is going to help us to drive another generation of interest in the BHTA and in this industry,” said Coppin.

The STEP initiative was officially introduced in 2011 as a pilot project, which was to then be reviewed at the end of the first year. At the time, it featured various components including a career showcase and teacher and student workbooks.

Noting that it was a vision of a past chairman of the association, Coppin said she did not want to see good ideas go to waste, as she described it as a “great programme” that would greatly benefit the future of the island’s tourism product.

“What we are trying to do is work with the Ministry of Education. We have had these discussions already, about how we can build tourism into the curriculum effectively, and by doing that we ensure that we don’t have to be involved at the everyday level, that the students when they come into the school system recognising that it is our number one industry, are going to be able to access information about tourism as part of their regular curriculum. So, that is our kind of vision as to how STEP will go forward,” she said.

As part of the thrust, the BHTA will be donating hundreds of copies of its 60th-year edition of Island in the Sun – The Story of Barbados publication to learning institutions, which is designed to give the students access to historical information of the tourism industry and its economic contribution to the island. (MM)