The government’s decision earlier this year to defund level three travel and tourism courses sent shockwaves through the industry, causing consternation – not least with those who entered the industry this way.

In April, the Department for Education (DfE) published a review of post-16 qualifications, which concluded that all level three courses – including travel and tourism – would be defunded in just two years’ time in 2025.

Funding for academic and technical qualifications, such as A and T levels, will continue at the expense of more vocational routes, such as Btechs. Claire Steiner and Danny Waine, chair and vice-chair of the Institute of Travel and Tourism’s (ITT) education and training committee, described it as “one of the most radical changes to college-level qualifications for some time”.

In its review, while the DfE maintained scope for sector-specific qualifications to be introduced in lieu of level three courses, none are currently planned for travel and tourism.

The issue is also a concern for higher education after the government, in 2021, published several policy papers focusing on ensuring university courses provided better value for money. 

Pivotal moment

The move flies in the face of international best practice, as set out by the UN World Tourism Organization, and has been met with understandable concern from those in travel, who fear it could not only aggravate the severe recruitment issues plaguing the sector, but change the very nature and fabric of the travel industry.

According to the government, exclusively funding A and T levels will help students “take their next step into higher education or skilled employment”.

“In some cases, as with travel and tourism, we have made the decision not to fund academic qualifications in this space because we think this is much better suited to a technical route,” a DfE spokesperson told TTG, adding: “This is because there are relevant occupational standards at level three on which travel and tourism qualifications can be based.”

Dr Peter Robinson, co-chair of the Association for Tourism in Higher Education (ATHE), said the government’s either/or approach to post-16 education would hinder the pipeline of new talent coming into the travel and tourism industry.

“The difficulty for travel and tourism is that these qualifications aren’t really seen as technical or academic,” said Robinson, who also heads Leeds Beckett University’s Centre for Tourism and Hospitality Management.

As for higher education, the ATHE believes the parameters used by the government to decide whether a higher education course provides good value are skewed against travel and tourism.

These include an expectation that 92% of each institute’s students will move on of leaving; for travel and tourism, this usually takes up to 24 months.

“By setting a benchmark of 18 months, the government is then able to say: ‘Tourism courses don’t deliver good quality outcomes and graduate level goals’, which isn’t true,” Robinson added.

Talent shortfall

Dr Ross Tinsley of Edinburgh Napier University, who co-chairs the ATHE with Robinson, told TTG the travel and tourism industry has traditionally always had “an element of working your way up” the ladder. “The fact you have a degree means you go through the career ladder much quicker, but that’s not necessarily captured in that first three-year period,” he said.

According to Robinson, defunding travel and tourism courses will impact the sector, exacerbating the staffing challenges faced by the industry post-Covid. “It’s going to be a massive problem in terms of the travel and tourism industry having access to these people who would have got their qualifications at 18 and then gone into travel agencies or high street roles,” he said.

“A lot of our colleagues are going to struggle to recruit people, and there’s going to be less conversation at school and college about what a great industry travel and tourism is to work in.”

The ATHE co-chairs added the government’s decision would also have a knock-on impact on university numbers, as fewer people will come to study travel and tourism. Industry leaders, meanwhile, believe the government’s approach to travel and tourism courses ultimately reflects an underlying lack of understanding of the sector, its nuances and the impact it has on the wider economy.

Julia Lo Bue-Said, chief executive of the Advantage Travel Partnership, studied tourism at college and described the experience as “invaluable”, while Jo Rzymowska, outgoing Celebrity Cruises vice-president and managing director EMEA, said her studies had been “integral” to her success.

“It was a great opportunity,” Lo Bue-Said told TTG. “It provided real insight into industry theory, and then an opportunity to explore which parts I wanted to go into.” 

Lo Bue-Said said the government’s stance was another example of ministers failing to take the outbound travel sector seriously, or appreciate its value. “Travel and tourism just isn’t thought about as an important economic driver that the government wants to invest in,” she said. 

Rzymowska told TTG she was “disappointed and angry" with the government. “The travel industry continues to suffer a resource shortage, with Brexit having a major impact on operators’ ability to recruit overseas representatives,” she said. “Many senior leaders and industry peers started out working overseas as part of their travel and tourism studies, and have made major contributions to the travel industry.”

Robinson said the industry was nonetheless ready to fight its corner, with businesses and organisations joining forces to oppose the changes.

Alongside the Council for Hospitality Management Education and the Association for Event Management, ATHE has funded a piece of research assessing the current state and trajectory of skills and qualifications in tourism, hospitality and events.

Rallying cry

Robinson has created a petition and published an open letter, calling on the government to recognise travel and tourism’s contribution to the economy by providing appropriate post-16 qualifications and measures of graduate outcomes. 

This call to arms has been answered and shared by ITT which, alongside the likes of Abta and the Business Travel Association, has recently formed a taskforce to explore the future of courses for the sector.

Steiner and Waine believe there remains an opportunity to develop relevant and realistic alternatives to T levels, but stressed this would need industrywide lobbying. “We understand the new qualifications could offer more flexibility, and that the industry will play an important role in shaping the courses,” they said.

“Travel businesses of all shapes and sizes need to be engaged in the development of the new courses; this would lead to an outcome which would provide industry with college leavers well equipped to enter the world of work.”

For info and to sign the petition, visit flymy.co.uk/educationpetition