The Canadian Academy of Travel & Tourism (CATT) is part of a global effort to introduce and promote careers in the travel and tourism sector among high school students.
By all accounts, tourism is a growing industry in British Columbia. The more people who work in the industry, the better BC can service the influx of tourists. But how do young people know if they want to work in tourism? That’s where CATT can help.
The Academy helps promote careers in the tourism industry by offering high school students career-oriented training and education programs while they work toward their high school diplomas. It’s a way for younger students to learn the skills they need for a successful career in tourism.
High schools can be involved in the program at three different levels: Level I - affiliate local, Level II - affiliate provincial and gold CATT graduate. Students receive graduation certificates when they fulfill criteria set out by the learning outcomes for each level. Work placements and internships let students experience working on the front-lines of BC’s exciting tourism industry.
“We present young people with an accurate image of the tourism sector and expose them to the dynamics of how travel and tourism really work,” said Bonnie Stevens, Executive Director, national CATT.
Essentially the program helps schools create an extensive tourism curriculum, with excellent opportunities for national and international conferences. Perhaps most importantly, it creates high school graduates committed to tourism, excited to work in the industry and prepared with the skills they need to be successful.
Joanne Bragg, a teacher at David Thompson Secondary School in charge of the school’s tourism curriculum, thinks the program is ideal for her students. Located between the Purcell and Rocky mountain ranges in Invermere, British Columbia, David Thompson Secondary has always had an eye toward training their students in tourism. For the last 15 years the school has offered a unique tourism program through curriculum offered by the Ministry of Education and enhanced by the school's membership in CATT.
Every year a member school is chosen to send students to the Global Travel and Tourism Partnership Student Case Study to compete against other schools from countries like Russia, the United States and Brazil. This year Rio Duthie and Sam Guenther, Grade 12 students at David Thompson Secondary, were chosen to represent Canada in Frankfurt, Germany. There they will meet other students, learn about global tourism and provide insights on their own real-life tourism case study.
What’s in it for the students? Besides giving them an opportunity to travel and meet others from around the world interested in tourism, it lets them hone their presentation skills and learn about tourism through an in-depth case study of an important issue.
A portion of the funding for this program comes from the Global Travel and Tourism Partnership and is used to help students learn how to conduct research, write their findings in a report and present their results.
For David Thompson Secondary and its students enrolled in the school’s "Adventure Tourism Program", it lets young people experience tourism from outside the boundaries of a textbook or classroom.
This proactive approach to tourism is also a good thing for British Columbia. Our young people will be better prepared for the challenges and excitement of working in this ever-growing industry.
For additional information please visit the Academy's website, or contact:
Jason Gourley
Project Manager | Chargé de projets
Canadian Tourism Human Resource Council | Conseil canadien des ressources humaines en tourisme
151 rue Slater Street, Suite/bureau 608
Ottawa, Ontario K1P 5H3
Tel: 613-231-6949 ext./poste 226
Fax: 613-231-6853
jgourley@cthrc.ca
