A TRAVEL agency will be set up at Weston College to give students hands-on experience of the industry.
The agency is due to open this September and will be run and managed by students in partnership with Simon Dinham, from Weston-based travel agency Thomas William Travel.
Travel and tourism lecturer Charmaine Hale-Lynch said the new agency would give students real work experience.
She said: “We’re still very much in the planning stage but it’s an exciting development and it will be a place where students and staff can book holidays, flights and hotels. This project will ensure that our learners develop the skills and qualities that employers demand.”
Simon, aged 26, who has worked for firms including Thomas Cook, Thomson and Virgin, recently visited the college’s Travel and Tourism department to talk to students about the industry and to outline the plans for the college-based business.
He said: “I talked through my career progression and gave the students an insight into the world of the travel agent. I described how I set up my own business, and how you get business in what is a very competitive market.”
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