Future You: Full steam ahead for cruise career

22 March 2023

Future You: Make a Splash in Swansea! We were joined by 700 local students for our Conference and Careers Fair at the city’s new Arena.

Eleven conference attendees smile in a large group photo.

Hosted by UWTSD and supported by ABTA, Institute of Hospitality Cymru and the wider industry, the Future You: Make a Splash in Swansea conference was open to schools, colleges, university students and alumni.

It was a fast-paced, interactive event with a range of speakers and video links from across the globe including successful UWTSD alumni, providing the opportunity for attendees to network and meet with industry experts.

With a strong focus on cruise tourism, the event was organised by a small team of UWTSD International Travel & Tourism and Events Management students in collaboration with ITT and industry support. Two of the students, Amanda Lewis, and Amy, are ABTA Ambassadors mentored by Royal Caribbean International. Another, Josh, completed a placement with Celebrity Cruises travelling around the Mediterranean, UK and Scandinavia and is the Chair of Institute of Hospitality Cymru Student Committee. A further student, Mel, managed the industry collaborations and running social media on the day.

It was all about celebrating successes and opportunities within the industry, and the development of outstanding transferable skills so that students can pursue varied careers across many different sectors.

Jacqui Jones, Programme Manager for Travel, Tourism and Events courses at UWTSD said: “We were thrilled to bring ITT Future You to Wales!

“This was a wonderful opportunity for students to organise and manage a major conference and for this to be the biggest ever Future You event was an amazing achievement.

“Students from all year groups engaged in the event set up and volunteering on the day helping develop their professional event management skills.

The event celebrated the achievements of UWTSD Tourism graduates inspiring the next generation to follow them & students also enjoyed networking with industry at the Careers Fair.”

A large audience in Swansea Arena is attentively listening to three speakers who joined the event through video conferencing.

Amanda Lewis said: “I feel extremely honoured to have been part of the organising team for the ITT Future You Make a Splash in Swansea student conference and Careers Fair. The event was a huge success and we have received extremely positive feedback on how organised the day was and how much our attendees enjoyed. To be able to sell almost 700 tickets is a huge achievement and we are extremely grateful to all of the colleges and schools from across Wales who attended. Organising an event on such a large scale has enabled me to gain experience in a range of different areas from event logistics, stakeholder engagement and pre-event set up.”

Mel Bourke said: “We cannot thank all involved enough who made this event possible, including our UWTSD Volunteers who created such an exciting atmosphere at Swansea Arena and taking on a number of roles to help at all times, we are incredibly grateful.

“Special thanks to our programme director Jacqui Jones who has been such a positive influence on us over our past three years at university. Her passion for the industry reflects on us as her students as she continues to motivate and encourage us to always achieve to the best of our abilities.

“We often speak in class of “not all classrooms have four walls” and it could not be truer, it was a great learning experience to be apply the theory we have learnt into practice. I am still receiving endless positive feedback from those across many different sectors, and it has made me feel so incredibly proud and excited to see what I, Josh, Amy, and Amanda will be capable of achieving in our future careers.”