Nine learners from the DN Colleges Group in the East of England have developed an in-depth understanding of responsible tourism following a two-week work placement in Fiji.
The Travel and Tourism and Aviation Operations students from North Lindsey and Doncaster College campuses worked closely with Tourism Fiji during the trip, which was facilitated by specialist education travel provider Think Pacific.
A busy and diverse programme was developed specifically, allowing the group to engage with a range of key industry and related organisations, opening their eyes to career opportunities as well as experiencing the colourful and unique culture of the South Pacific archipelago.
Travel and Tourism student Ruby Last said: “Every day was amazing. I felt this was a once in a lifetime experience. My favourite part was enjoying the culture, it was surreal. I have never experienced anything like it before. Everyone was so happy and dancing and smiling.
“This experience really pushed me out of my comfort zone, particularly travelling without my parents, and this has now given me the confidence to travel around Australia when I leave college.”
Fellow Travel and Tourism student Maddie Cadman added: “It has opened my mind to job opportunities, and it’s obviously built my confidence to meet new people – and it’s also built my confidence to do more travelling and learn about new cultures all over the world.”
The group were challenged by their Fiji Tourism hosts to create a seven-day itinerary for a holiday in Fiji focusing on sustainability and creating meaningful experiences that not only benefit the local community but also contribute to the long-term environmental and socio-economic sustainability of the country.
To help them with this task a range of activities were organised which also had relevance to their courses and learning objectives back home in the United Kingdom.
Highlights included a visit to a conservation centre on the Coral Coast where the group went snorkelling and witnessed firsthand the tangible effects of tourism on the natural reef.
Invaluable insights into career pathways
They saw the ongoing conservation efforts to mitigate this, such as coral nurseries where new coral is cultivated and then replanted in natural sites identified for restoration.
There was also a trip to the Namosi Eco Retreat, a traditional Fijian village only accessible via a river crossing, where the group experienced authentic Fijian culture and learned about agri-tourism.
Students spent the day fully immersed in village life, taking part in a traditional Fijian Kava ceremony, a ritual dance performance with the villagers and a raft building activity.
Each activity was chosen to offer invaluable insights into the students’ prospective career pathways – even the long-haul travel to get to Fiji and back.
“Travelling such a long distance and seeing how different airports run during stop overs has complimented my studies,” said Aviation learner Shelby Robinson. “We stopped in Hong Kong and I loved seeing how they worked differently from the UK.”
Students ended the two weeks by presenting their tour itineraries, designed to encourage responsible tourism among potential holidaymakers, to Tourism Fiji. Their presentations are also a great learning tool which has been brought back to the classroom and shared with their cohorts.
Simon Darker, co-founder and director at Think Pacific said: ‘It was a great privilege to design and deliver this programme. DN Colleges were very ambitious in their desire to create a project in the South Pacific, which could link directly to module content, provide utterly unique international work experience, and enable learners to really get out of their comfort zone and develop soft skills through cultural immersion.”
Kayleigh Grierson, DN Colleges Group curriculum leader, who accompanied the group, said: “The Fiji trip through the government Turing Scheme was a once in a lifetime opportunity not only for the students, but for us staff too.
“Think Pacific took us to a huge range of different tourism-focused organisations. We were lucky to be able to experience so much of the beautiful country of Fiji and enjoy their culture, traditions and many other aspects.
“They say ‘happiness comes naturally’ in Fiji and we could not agree more.”
