East Midlands Tourism gets 'back to the floor'

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04/02/2010

As part of National Apprenticeship Week's, Back to the Floor initiative, the team at East Midlands Tourism (EMT), East Midlands Development Agency's (emda's) tourism arm, have spent Back to the Floor Day away from their desks to experience the tourism industry from the perspective of tourism apprentices across the region.

National Apprenticeship Week runs from Monday 1 February to Friday 5 February 2010. The week, which is organised and co-ordinated by the National Apprenticeship Service, celebrates the talents and skills of apprentices across the UK.

On Tuesday 2 February, several of the EMT team rolled up their sleeves to lend a hand in some of the region's most challenging tourism positions with placements at Twycross Zoo, Center Parcs in Sherwood Forest and the Nottingham City Tourist Information Centre. 

At Twycross Zoo in Leicestershire,emda's Tourism Director, Ruth Hyde donned wellington boots and waterproofs to spend the day under the supervision of a student keeper. The day's duties included preparing breakfast for giraffes, serving lunch to chimps and penguins, sweeping out and hosing down animal enclosures and putting the alpacas to bed.

Ruth commented:

"It was fascinating to get behind the scenes at one of our region's leading attractions. The day provided a great insight not only into the training that the zoo offers its staff, but also into the operation of the zoo itself and the commitment of the staff to the animals in their care.  Being a zoo keeper requires a great deal of persistence and quite a lot of muscle - mucking out and moving bales of hay around is hard work."

'Tourism is a growing industry in the East Midlands and supports almost 100,000 jobs as such we are keen to encourage young people to consider a career in tourism and believe our apprentices have an important role to play in the future and growth of the tourism industry'.  By combining theory and practise an Apprenticeship is a great way to fast track a career within the tourism industry."

Claire Lambert, Investment Manager spent the day in the kitchens at Center Parcs, Sherwood Forest, with apprentice chefs trained by West Nottinghamshire College. Her job included learning to prepare a range of dishes and how to present food for service as well as finding out more about how a busy kitchen operates.

Una Mullan, Head of Tourism Marketing went Back to the Floor on the frontline of the region's tourism industry at Nottingham City Tourist Information Centre, which deals with around 290,000 visitors a year and 16,000 telephone enquiries, providing a host of information and services to visitors.  Here role included answering questions from overseas visitors from Spain, America, Italy and Greece about Nottinghamshire's tourism offer.

Karen Woodward, National Apprenticeship Service, Regional Director commented:

"It's great to have the support of East Midlands Tourism as the leisure, travel and tourism industries offer such a vast range opportunities for apprentices in the East Midlands including customer service assistants, hotel and accommodation managers, leisure and theme park attendants and travel consultants.

A tourism Apprenticeship is great for anyone with an interest in travel and working directly with customers, and presents very rewarding, interesting and varied work."

Ends

For more information and high resolution photography contact:
Lauraine Jordan
East Midlands Tourism
Tel: 0115 988 8365
Email:laurainejordan@emd.org.uk

Kirsty McMahon
East Midlands Tourism
Tel: 0115 988 8365
Email:kirstymcmahon@emd.org.uk

Notes to editors:

1. East Midlands Tourism was established in April 2004 by East Midlands Development Agency and is responsible for improving the skills, quality standards and the value and competitiveness of the tourism industry. The tourism industry has an important role to play in supporting emda's aim to deliver the 2006 Regional Economic Strategy (RES) which sets out regional priorities until 2020. The RES, coordinated byemda, highlights the themes of productivity, sustainability and equality and builds on the previous two strategies; 'Prosperity through People' and 'Destination 2010'.  For more information on east midlands tourism visitwww.eastmidlandstourism.com 

2. East Midlands Tourism works with five Destination Management Partnerships - Experience Nottinghamshire, Explore Northamptonshire, Leicester Shire Promotions, Lincolnshire Tourism and Visit Peak District & Derbyshire. These organisations are responsible for managing their sub region as a tourist destination, working with local stakeholders, and are the first point of contact for businesses and visitors. For more information visitwww.discovereastmidlands.com

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