Students Amy Yuchen Li, Joanne Fang, Crystal Ip and Cici Chan talk to a local business operator. Photo by Brent Randall
Students from The University of Queensland have applied their tourism knowledge to projects in regional Queensland, assisting local councils, tourism organisations and operators with planning and data collection to help boost tourism.
Over 20 students from the School of Tourism participated in the annual Tourism Regional Immersion Project (TRIP) in the regions of Somerset, the Scenic Rim, Moreton Bay and Islands, Toowoomba and Ipswich City.
The Hon Jann Stuckey MP, Minister for Tourism, Major Events, Small Business and the Commonwealth Games, said she was pleased to provide the Queensland Government's endorsement of TRIP.
“The project is a valuable tool for engaging students to make the leap from ‘university to work life' and seeing the value in creating a career; something that has been highlighted as an issue by industry," she said.
Among the student cohort was 22-year-old student Ms Xi (Cici) Chen, who was placed with Scenic Rim Regional Council and together with her group assisted in collating data for a ‘Scenic Rim Meeting Planner'.
The planner provides a comprehensive listing of all meeting venues and their facilities across the Scenic Rim, and will be used to promote the region to business event planners as well as providing a reference resource for Council and other organisations.
Ms Chen said one of the aspects she enjoyed most about TRIP was meeting real-world local businesses and council members.
“I was motivated by conversations with local business operators and different people from the Council. Brent Randall (Scenic Rim Regional Council's Tourism Officer), shared valuable knowledge and really inspired us to learn.”
Ms Chen said her placement with the Scenic Rim Regional Council also had a major influence on her future career plan.
“I studied hospitality as my major and planned to work in the hotel industry after I graduated. After my TRIP placement, I realised I had narrowed my career path to one option and I now think working in the tourism industry is exactly what I want to do,” she said.
“After TRIP, I applied for Digital Marketing internship at Tourism Queensland and was fortunate enough to obtain the position.
“I am now doing the internship with Tourism Queensland two days a week and am gradually learning more and more about tourism marketing.
“My placement with the Scenic Rim Regional Council was a great platform to re-evaluate my career path and gain insight into other tourism-related opportunities that I hadn't previously considered.”
TRIP is a unique work placement program which is competitively offered to students in the School of Tourism, enrolled in the final year Professional Development (TOUR3009) course.
The program is endorsed by Queensland's peak tourism bodies, including Tourism Queensland (TQ) and Queensland Tourism Industry Council (QTIC).
Media: Claire Shuter, (07) 3346 9259 or c.shuter@uq.edu.au
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