CATEGORY 15 TOURISM EDUCATION AND TRAINING

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1 CATEGORY 15 TOURISM EDUCATION AND TRAINING This category is open to individual tourism businesses and tourism education and other registered training providers working to raise professional standards within the tourism industry by delivering tourism training, including online. Important notes: o There are two versions of Question 2. Please choose that which is relevant. o Entrants must ensure their answers refer specifically to the product and category they are entering. o Entrants are encouraged to answer questions to highlight participation in tourism-related accreditation programs. o Prior to using an acronym, please state phrase or name in full followed by the acronym in brackets. Eg. Tourism Council WA (TCWA) A Provide a general overview of the nature and history of your education and training operation. You must demonstrate your eligibility for entry in this category as outlined in the description above. B Describe the tourism education and training services and/or facilities you offer. C What sets you apart from your competitors? Question 1. Product (20 points) There are several parts to this question: o Broad summary of your business s essential qualities. o Include the main qualities and characteristics. o Broad summary of past events. Include a map, photo, branding, relevant courses etc. There are two parts to this question: Services o What you provide for the industry, the non tangible things such as online training, counsellors, leadership programs etc. o The services listed could include things such as language interpretation services, offering a wide variety of options/courses and deliver options. Facilities (buildings and infrastructure) o The physical environment you provide for your customers including disabled access, pram access, coffee shop etc. o Practical training facilities. List the areas where you are different to your competitors, are these advantages or disadvantages. For example. o Longest running. o Up-to-date technology. o Current information. o Local offices. o Practical on the job experiences. o State of the art equipment.

2 Question 2. Business Plans - customised for Government training institutions or Universities (20 points) A Describe the key features of your training business plan for example goals, strategies and outcomes. B Demonstrate your adherence to your faculty or departmental budget. If you have not experienced growth, explain why. Some of the key areas you may want to include are: Vision or Mission Statement: o This statement should spell out the reasons for your business. Goals o What end result you are working towards, in the short, medium and long term. o How are you measuring your success? o What strategies and plans do you have in place to achieve these goals? o What have you already achieved? Customers o Specify your target markets. o Why would they come to your attraction? o What kind of marketing do you undertake in order to attract your target markets? Competition o Are there similar businesses? o What have you learnt about your competition? o Are you providing something different additional services? o Have you identify a niche market segment? Marketing o How do you market or advertise. o Provide details about websites, articles to be published, press and newspaper articles. Outcomes o What are they? o How do you quantify these results? Judges want to see that you ve got plans in place, and you are sticking to them, coming within or under budget. This is important in order to ensure the continuity of your department and demonstrate it is viable. Show how you were able to maintain the budget. You need to demonstrate good financial management, for example how often you prepare financial reports, your review processes and the subsequent actions taken. Explain how you were able or not able to adhere to the budget given. Some of the other things to validate business viability could be: o Increases in enrolments. o Amount of forward bookings compared to previous year. C Describe the risk issues you have identified for your specific risk mitigation strategies you have put in place. This is a great question to speak to your finance team about. All financial information will be treated confidentially. This question has two parts, the first, what future issues are there that can have a negative impact or jeopardize the success of your business, for o Business related risk. o Occupational Health and Safety. o Economic changes in key markets. o Fluctuations in currency exchange, interest rates. o Intensifying competition. The second part of this question relates to what actions/steps have you taken to understand, reduce or eliminate these risks in your business. Typically these are best articulated in a table format including at least the following headings: o Description of the risk.

3 D Demonstrate your involvement in, and contribution to, the tourism industry. Explain how it contributes to the success of your tourism industry as a whole. A Briefly describe the key features of your business plan for example goals, strategies and outcomes, in particular how it incorporates training outcomes. B Demonstrate your o Probability the event will happen. o Impact the event will have to the attraction. o What steps you have taken to mitigate or eliminate. You may also want to discuss how you constantly review and reassess these. There are four parts to the question the first, how are you involved in the tourism industry either local, state and/or at a national level. Examples could include: o Working with local and state tourism authorities. o Accreditation. o Active membership of industry associations. o Involvement in trade shows etc. o Promoting other tourism businesses. o Providing support to familiarisation/educational programs. The second part, what do you or your business do to benefit the tourism industry for o Participation in leadership and industry forums. o Promotion of other tourist activities. o Membership/involvement in local tourism bodies e.g. visitor centres, regional tourism bodies etc. o Creation of tourism employment opportunities. The next part is, how does this help towards the success of your business for o Greater awareness of your facilities. o Cross promotion opportunities. The last part is how does this help towards the tourism industry in WA/Australia for o Quote examples where your attraction has featured on regional or national tourism promotions. OR Question 2. Business Plans customised for individual businesses, or private registered training providers (20 points) Some of the key areas you may want to include are: Vision or Mission Statement: o This statement should spell out the reasons for your business. Goals o What end result you are working towards, in the short, medium and long term. o How are you measuring your success? o What strategies and plans do you have in place to achieve these goals? o What have you already achieved? Customers o Specify your target markets. o Why would they come to your business? o What kind of marketing do you undertake in order to attract your target markets? Competition o Are there similar businesses? o What have you learnt about your competition? o Are you providing something different additional services? o Have you identify a niche market segment? Marketing o How do you market or advertise. o Provide details about websites, articles to be published, press and newspaper articles. Outcomes o What are they? o How do you quantify these? Judges want to see that you ve got plans in place to ensure the continuity of your

4 financial viability. If your business has not experienced growth, explain why. C Describe the risk issues you have identified for your specific risk mitigation strategies you have put in place D Demonstrate your involvement in, and contribution to, the tourism industry. Explain how it contributes to the success of your tourism industry as a whole. business and demonstrate your business is viable. You need to demonstrate good financial management, for example how often you prepare financial reports, your review processes and the subsequent actions taken. This is a great question to speak to your finance team or your accountant about. All financial information will be treated confidentially. This question has two parts, the first, what future issues are there that can have a negative impact or jeopardize the success of your business, for o Business related risk. o Occupational Health and Safety. o Economic changes in key markets. o Fluctuations in currency exchange, interest rates. o Intensifying price competition. The second part of this question relates to what actions/steps have you taken to understand, reduce or eliminate these risks in your business. Typically these are best articulated in a table format including at least the following headings: o Description of the risk. o Probability the event will happen. o Impact the event will have to the attraction. o What steps you have taken to mitigate or eliminate. You may also want to discuss how you constantly review and reassess these. There are four parts to the question the first, how are you involved in the tourism industry either local, state and/or at a national level. Examples could include: o Working with local and state tourism authorities. o Accreditation. o Active membership of industry associations. o Involvement in trade shows etc. o Promoting other tourism businesses. o Providing support to familiarisation. The second part, what do you or your business do to benefit the tourism industry for o Participation in leadership and industry forums. o Promotion/packaging of other tourist venues. o Membership/involvement in local tourism bodies e.g. visitor centres, regional tourism bodies etc. o Creation of tourism employment opportunities. The next part is, how does this help towards the success of your business for o Greater awareness of your attraction. o Cross promotion opportunities. The last part is how does this help towards the tourism industry in WA/Australia for o Quote examples where your attraction has featured on regional or national tourism promotions. A Describe your marketing strategies with reference to providing education and training for the tourism industry. Question 3. Marketing (20 points) Detail your marketing strategies, from design, to how it reaches the consumer, your pricing, and the image the product holds in the minds of the customers. What strategies do you have in place to compete in a chosen market segment? How have you identified the characteristics of various market segments? Perhaps displaying your strategies and outcomes in a table format. Remember your business may provide education and training to other industries please

5 B C How do you market your education and training services and facilities within the tourism industry and the wider community? Outline the success of your marketing activities for your tourism education and training business. refer only to the tourism industry in your answers. What marketing do you do to promote to the tourism industry, for o E-marketing. o Advertising. o Public relations. o Word-of mouth. Do you use the same marketing for both the Tourism industry as well as other industries? With all strategies you should have measurable goals or outcomes, you may like to include what results you have had, did it work and how successful was the marketing activity. Perhaps displaying your strategies and outcomes in a table format. Question 4. Education and Training of your Students and Professional Development of your Staff (20 points) A Describe how your facilities/services meet the needs of tourism students and/or employees. B How do you identify and provide for students and/or employees with specific needs? C State the number of people working in the business and describe your commitment to the professional development of your own staff i.e. training providers. As you have already outlined your facilities /services in question 1b now you need to link these where possible with the tourism students and/or employees needs. This may be better put into a table where you would identify their needs, what you have ascertained to be the definitive characteristics of what they require to achieve, then explain how your facilities/services fulfils these. The first part of this question is, how do you recognize what specific needs are required by your students and/or employees for o Do you ask in initial conversation? o On the application form is there a designated section? Once you have acknowledged what their specific needs are how do you go about meeting their needs for o Multilingual staff. o Catering for special needs. There are two parts to this question the first is to simply state the number of staff including fulltime, part time, casual and volunteers. The second is to discuss what training/development do you provide on an ongoing basis for example, o In-service training. o External programs. o Refresher programs. o One on One mentoring and personal development programs. A Explain how your education and training product reflects the Australian tourism industry s aim to promote environmental sustainability. B How does your education and training Question 5. Sustainability and Innovation (20 points) You can talk about your ongoing commitment in ensuring the longevity of our environment, Is your organisation committed to this or is it just paying lip service: o Do you have a stated policy? o Have you allocated a budget to this area? o Do you have the management and staffs backing? What are you physically doing or what programmes or training do you have in place to achieve your environmental sustainability goals for o Limiting energy and water consumption. o Recycling, planting trees or environmental building design. o Educating your staff and students. How are you involved within your community? Do you give back to the community, do you help your local community for

6 program involve local communities? C How has your program fostered a greater understanding of the benefits of tourism to the wider community? D Describe any innovations that have taken place during the qualifying period to improve your business and the specific benefits achieved. o Local apprenticeships and employ locals. o Support local businesses what % of your spend is local. o Do you support various local charities or community functions/ initiatives? Does your company recognize, show regard or consideration to your local community: o History and Heritage of your community. o Cultural significances, buildings, facilities and people. o Historic or cultural values. How have you been able to successfully promote the growth and development of appreciation, for the importance of tourism to not just a local community, but to the region, state or nationally? This is a two part question, firstly what have you done in the qualifying period that is new or different. Some examples: o Improvements to your students experience. o Infrastructure development. o Staff development programs. o New marketing concepts, new sales ideas. o Catering for special needs. o Increase capacity for multi lingual customer experience. Then the second part, what have you specifically achieved from these innovations and can you quantify. Other Hints and Tips o Plan early to devote the time to the project. o Get all your staff involved not just the marketing team. o Treat your submission as a three year business plan. o Prepare each section in bullet point form first then flesh it out. o Answer every question fully including all sub-sections. o Try to put some emotion or personality into the submission judges want to feel the passion! o Make the submission easy to read. o Use graphics, tables and graphs to illustrate and emphasise important items. o It s about the process. Don t leave out the why when detailing actions and outcomes. o Don t assume the judges will know about your business. o Include the sub-question and headings above your relevant responses. o Give it to an objective person to proof read and edit before you submit it.