PROS AND CONS OF PRACTICAL TRAINING FOR STUDENTS IN TRAVEL AGENCY

Is it worth to study tourism?

“ I made decision to study tourism, because I like to travel. “

Motivation

Knowledge

Students must be aware that they will make a success, only if they :

1. are technically educated 2. know several languages.

Ratings are not a measure of success, so you should ask yourself – where and how can I apply this theory in practice?

How to point ourselves after graduation

Try to:1. visit conferences and

professional meetings2. ask the questions3. present yourself to

people.

Business people tend to remember all your business projects.

Aim of the study

1) What are students of tourism supposed to do in travel agency?

2) How does the practical training in travel agency today really work?

Travel agency “Fly Fly Travel”

Responsibilities

answering to inquiries of passengers about flight schedules

using computers and Galileo programme to provide customer service to incoming passengers

to assist passengers with making or changing reservations

verifies reservations by phone

Qualifications and additional skills

Be able to communicate friendly with clients in order to establish their needs in efficient way

Ability to work in a fast paced environment

Ability to work alone or as a part of the team

Ability to handle stressful situations with ease

Strong customer service skills

Foreign language, computer and typing skills are necessery

Research of students attitude about practical training

In the analysis of the travel agency Fly Fly Travel, they used techniques such as survey and interview with a sample of 15 students of tourism.

Students were asked to complete a short questionnaire with 6 clearly formulated questions, by circling one of the 5 offered answers.

Questionnaire

Questionsstrong

ly disagr

ee

disagree

neutral

agree

strongly

agree

Are you satisfied with the experience you have gained in the agency? 1 2 3 4 5

How do you assess the cooperation with the agency in relation to the

fulfillment of tasks?1 2 3 4 5

Will your experience in our agency be useful in further studies of

tourism?1 2 3 4 5

What is your attitude about working in the tourism industry upon your

graduation?1 2 3 4 5

How do you assess the level of organization of professional practice? 1 2 3 4 5Cooperation with the employees of the travel agency during the time of

practice?1 2 3 4 5

Attitudes are ranked from 1 to 5 according to the values of the scale source: travel agency “Fly Fly Travel “ (2015)

Results of the questionnaire 61% of students expressed full

satisfaction about the experience they have gained in the travel agency.

52% of cases was rated as "very good“ about the quality of cooperation with the employees of the agency

55% of students have an opinion that the practice will help them during or after the studies.

32% is an equal number of students who have completed the questionnaire by values of the scale 3 and 4 as the answer to the 4th question

The answers on the last two questions, were related to the highest grade.

Results of the interview The results of the interview showed, that

students are mostly satisfied with achieving new skills, such as:

work under the stress personal organization team-work

92% of students reported that work in the travel

agency is extremely hard, working hours are too long

66% felt they were not motivated enough for work26% of students are not planning to work in the

travel agency after graduation

The attitude of employees in travel agency

Employees have expressed dissatisfaction about:

1) the motivation of students for learning during their working hours.

2) the absence of any agreement about the kind of information and documents, which are expected to be available for students.

Our attitude

1) Students of tourism only after “a personal meeting” with a job in that area, can understand its advantages and disadvantages.

2) Investing in young and educated personnel is a priority, and therefore the elimination of obstacles that they faced with, during their practical training, should be seen as a very important and responsible task.

3) Educational institutions must be linked better with the travel industry, in order to offer them cooperation.

4) Students must be motivated and more responsible in doing their tasks during the practical training

5) They must be familiar with the characteristics of the profession they have chosed