Our experiences working in tourism and hospitality

A new recruitment campaign has recently been launched by the Scottish Tourism Alliance, encouraging people to choose a career in Scotland’s tourism and hospitality industry. Working in the tourism and hospitality sector can be a highly rewarding experience. It is a varied and diverse sector and there are jobs to suit all personalities, interests and skill sets. To shine a light on the unique benefits of working within tourism and hospitality, we decided to share some of our personal experiences within the sector and the highlights that we’ve encountered along the way. If you want to find a career you love, you can explore jobs in tourism and hospitality at http://careerscope.uk.net.

Chris Foy

My introduction to the UK tourism industry came when I joined Historic Royal Palaces to sell their visitor attractions to the global travel trade. I was in my mid-twenties, not entirely sure where to go next after a couple of years in sales - and writing holiday brochure copy - for places I knew nothing about overseas. All of a sudden, I was based in some incredibly famous buildings, working with people in diverse roles and getting excited about doing something for my own city. That was a springboard to a career in destination marketing and development that has taken me all over the world, promoting all the very best parts of the UK.

Yvonne Cook

My first job in tourism was working in a Tourist Information Centre during the summer and it both opened my eyes to the career potential and enabled me to develop a good level of knowledge about the sector. Since then, I’ve stayed in tourism for almost my entire career, with many opportunities for progression. I’ve worked in a number of roles at local and national level, including destination development, product development, marketing, sales, stakeholder management and industry development. Working in tourism has given me so much variety, opportunities to use my language skills, and a constant stream of interesting projects and challenges to embrace. I get a real buzz from contributing to making a difference for tourism businesses.

Deirdre O'Donnell

My first job after graduating was in the Edinburgh & Lothians Tourist Board research team. I was there 3 years and loved learning from a passionate group of people whose job it was to promote one of the most iconic cities in the world. My work ranged from carrying out visitor surveys, calculating the value and impact of large events like Edinburgh’s Hogmanay and the Tall Ships Race, and organising the annual industry conference. Tourism has always remained my passion, working in education for well over 10 years, then returning to destination development and marketing in more recent years. My tourism career has taken me to many amazing destinations in Europe and further afield in Canada, the States and Singapore.

Christina Wright

My first experience of the tourism industry was volunteering for a summer with the National Trust for Scotland (NTS) through Project Scotland, getting involved in every aspect of running a NTS attraction. It didn’t take me long to fall in love with the fact that no two days are ever the same working in tourism and hospitality. I went on to continue to work for the NTS for almost 7 years, before moving on to work in other hospitality and tourism roles, and enjoyed both the challenge and the satisfaction of delivering a great customer experience. Over the course of my career to date, I have met some fantastic people, learned things I never thought I would and had a lot of fun along the way.