The Tourism Skills Training Masterclass (TSTM) Program was an intensive domestic tourism skills training program that prepared and placed 14 individuals in career transition and new immigrants to Canada. The program timeframe was from March 15 to June 11, 2021 and included the completion of three industry-recognized certificates, over 50 hours of mentorship and coaching, and 125 workplace practicum hours. The second program was a 13-week long domestic tourism skills program with focus on traditional and/or self-employment. After two months of online instruction, four industry-recognized certificates, and 240 hours of mentorship meetings, the TST cohort resulted in 46 individuals in career transition and new immigrants to Canada. The topics and learning outcomes of the above two programs included: Tourism and Hospitality trends, regional experience, and the delivery of day-to-day great service, including an overview of Indigenous tourism, accessible tourism and communicable disease health and safety practices from a diverse roster of tourism experts.
The third program focused on Agri-Tourism Entrepreneurship Skills and involved 13 intensive weeks from February 26 to June 4, 2021. The delivery was a blend of live online and face-to-face learning that resulted in industry-recognized certificates, hands-on practical experience, and hands-on web-marketing and ecommerce training. The knowledge and skills delivered in this training program helped small businesses develop their entrepreneurial idea as well as create new shelf-stable, market-ready products for distribution across Canada and internationally. Admission priorities for all three programs were for recent immigrants to Canada, Indigenous peoples of Canada, and persons with disabilities.
There is both quantitative and qualitative impacts to this innovative set of programs.
From a quantitative perspective, the significant resources that were attracted and applied to this program include:
- 1.1 million dollars in external funding.
- More than 100 expert instructors and mentors.
- Over 800 hours of student participation.
- Employment placements by over 50 employers.
- 80 graduates across all three programs.
- 60 new employment placements within the region that will continue to drive new domestic revenue to these businesses, estimated at 8 million per year.
- 40 graduates who were new to the tourism industry, bringing new energy, ideas, and diversity to the industry.
- A perfect rating of 5/5 for the overall program value by participants.
From a qualitative perspective, the impact is how this program changed lives and inspired a new regional economic focus, and further education opportunities. The participants reflected on how they gained self-confidence, people skills, and developed a mindset around access and inclusion. A few testimonies are listed below:
"What stood out for me was the genuine thought put into the criteria of this course to ensure that we are taught useful and meaningful information."
"Skills we didn't know we had have been not only brought to light, but they have been honed in, developed, and exercised through group works, meaningful connections, and a supportive team."
"This course showed the endless amounts of opportunity within the sector and that it is not only possible to succeed during these uncertain times "it is opportunistic""
Each program offered unique and intensive skills training with some programs providing Industry. The following showcases an overview of each program:
Agri-Tourism Entrepreneur Skills Training Program curriculum focused on:
- Business and product development to launch
- Coaching and mentorship through in-person and online meetings
- Connecting with markets, retail stores, online, and e-commerce platforms
- The program involved participant teamwork and culminated in a presentation of the final Agri-tourism product and business concept to a panel of industry experts.
Tourism Skills Training (TST) Program - Masterclass, and Tourism Skills Training (TST) Program
Participants received the following certificates:
- LGBT+ Market-Ready Diversity Training | Tourism HR Canada
- SuperHost Foundations of Service Quality | go2HR
- SuperHost Service for All (Accessibility and Inclusive Tourism) | go2HR
- WHMIS Certification | Velocity Training
- The programs involved participant teamwork and culminated in a demonstration of learning to a panel of tourism experts, as well as an online Job Fair.
The programs offered in partnership with Gustavson and Thompson Okanagan Tourism Association (TOTA) are replicable and transferable to any region, community, and industry.
The evidence and impact of replicability for the tourism programs has been significant. The program started in January 2021 in the Okanagan region, and has since received invitations from across the province including the Village of Sayward, to deliver tourism entrepreneurship programs to a variety of industry leaders. The Sayward region requires the support of a post-secondary education institution in order to partner with community leaders and provide high-quality and impactful training to entrepreneurs that will evidently lead to the economic recovery of Sayward. The University of Victoria, Gustavson School of Business and the National Consortium for Indigenous Economic Development have a number of award-winning entrepreneurship programs - including the mentioned tourism programs - to offer the Sayward region. This proves that the program is highly adaptable and customizable to the unique cultures, resources, and specific goals of each Indigenous community.
The programs offered by Thompson Okanagan Tourism Association (TOTA) can be applied to other communities, but will vary to cater to the unique and diverse offerings within the region. This way, communities will have programs that are designed to stimulate their region.
The tourism and hospitality industry within British Columbia seemed to have a long period of stability due to international and domestic tourists. However, due to COVID-19, the tourism and hospitality industry was crushed proving its fragility to its reliance on international tourists. With small tourism and service-based businesses accounting for 98 percent of the region's employment, we learned that there was a strong need to retool these small businesses to shift market-focus from international to domestic tourists. This shift in market-focus presented an opportunity for Thompson Okanagan Tourism Association (TOTA) to help small business in urban, suburban, and rural communities through a specific customized and relevant training program. To increase the positive impact and accessibility, TOTA brought in university instructors from the University of Victoria directly to the Okanagan community to carry out the programs in-person. By doing this, the significant volume of stakeholders in the tourism programs became further engaged in the process via directly assisting participants with the launch of their self-sufficient, sustainable, and resilient new ventures and future endeavors. The three programs offered by TOTA showcased that there is a call to action for more small business and entrepreneurship programs to ensure the prosperity and longevity of the provinces most valuable industry - hospitality and tourism.