Young travel professionals: In the Press — Millennials In Travel

In the Press — Millennials In Travel

The future of Canada’s travel industry is in good hands thanks to a new generation of passionate travel pros.

Millennials in Travel (MIT), a U.S-based organization dedicated to tourism growth, career development, and networking among a generational segment in the travel industry, has gone international with the launch of its first Canadian chapter in Vancouver, B.C.

The new branch, which was first announced in September 2021, held an official kickoff event on Tuesday (April 26) at Vancouver’s glam Shangri-La Hotel, welcoming a mix of travel advisors and other professionals from the tour operator, tourism board, media, air and cruise line sectors.

The new chapter – the first MIT brand to launch outside of the U.S. – is led by Kemi Wells of Wells Luxury Travel, the group’s officer of development, and The Travel Group‘s McKenzie McMillan, who serves as officer of communications.

Wells and McMillan used to lead a next-generation career development group called Young Travel Professionals (YTP), and while that club eventually phased out, the two continued fostering a local network of tourism pros.

“As YTP wound down and as the pandemic began, we felt it would be a great idea to start up an official Millennials in Travel Chapter in Vancouver as the organization was still going strong and they were keen to see their first Canadian chapter!” Wells told PAX.

Volunteer-run MIT Vancouver also welcomes Anshuman Pancholi as officer of membership and Blair Hirtle as officer of events.

A place for driven millennials

“There are many benefits to joining,” Wells said, explaining the group’s activities.

This includes access to MIT Chapter Networking Events – from local ones to events held by U.S. chapters if a member is visiting a city and the timing aligns.

There are exclusive gatherings at various conferences and global events to provide additional networking opportunities for members across all chapters.

There is a job board for members and MIT is also working on virtual training modules to educate members about the different sectors of the industry, as well as on products, industry tools, destinations and brands with a focus on helping millennial professionals (those who are generally born after 1975).

“I love the sense of community,” McMillan said. “MIT runs forums, social media pages and groups to help keep everyone connected.”

Being a member grants you access to member-only Millennials in Travel familiarization trips (invited sectors are at the host’s discretion).

There are also exclusive promotions and discounts for members, McMillan said.

“We are the future of the travel industry”

MIT’s expansion into Canada is part of a greater effort to build a stronger travel trade community over the next few decades.

Millennials communicate differently, market differently and conduct business in a different way, as the organization’s main website explains.

And, as the motto of the organization says: “We are the future of the travel industry.”

“We may be biased, but I think we are a group of very driven and passionate individuals who have clear goals in mind for our careers and life journey,” said Wells. “Our chapter is a fun way to stay connected, meet other like-minded people and help each other to strengthen our industry as a whole.”
MIT Vancouver’s plan is to hold quarterly in-personal events – and the next gathering is already set for June 21, 2022.

The launch event in Vancouver was «very successful,» Wells said, thanks to venue sponsor Shangri-La Vancouver and event sponsor, the Las Vegas Convention and Visitor Authority. 

Additional prizes were also provided by MGM Resorts International and Cirque du Soleil. 

The group says it has several partners already expressing interest in sponsoring a future event, but they’re of course welcoming more on board as they plan ahead for 2022 and 2023.

Those who are interested in working with MIT Vancouver, or to simply connect, are invited to contact [email protected].

If you are a millennial in travel and want to sign up for the Vancouver (or any other) chapter for updates, click here.

There is a cost to becoming an official member (although, you can still get newsletter updates without a charge).

As a not-for-profit, MIT Vancouver’s annual fee is $25.00 USD per person, which provides access to the benefits listed above, including tickets to two in-person events.

The membership and two complimentary events are valid for 365 days from the membership activation or renewal date.

Member attendance to additional in-person events (after the first two) are $15.00 USD per event, and all in-person events for non-members are $15.00 USD per event.

(Canadian pricing is still being worked on, “but really, we think it is a bargain!” noted Wells).

There are no official announcements (yet) about expanding MIT to other regions in Canada, but it’s definitely on the wish list.

“It would be great to have a chapter in each major province,” McMillan said.

For more on Millennials in Travel, click here. 

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The first industry championship of professional skills in the field of tourism TravelSkills was held in Moscow

March 18, 2019, 13:45

MOSCOW. MARCH 18. INTERFAX-TOURISM – The first industry championship of professional skills in the field of tourism TravelSkills was held in Moscow, more than 100 people took part in it, the press service of the Young Professionals (WorldSkills Russia) Union told the Interfax-Tourism portal.

Photo: Union «Young Professionals (WorldSkills Russia)»

«Moscow has announced the results of the First TravelSkills industry championship aimed at modernizing the system of training for the tourism industry. It was held on the territory of Moscow City from March 14 to 15 with the support of the Moscow Tourism Committee. The event was organized by the Union «Young Professionals (WorldSkills Russia)» and Travel Business School. More than 100 people aged 16 and over took part in the championship, who tested their skills in three competencies developed in accordance with WorldSkills international standards: «Travel Agent Activity», «Tour Operator Activity» and «Organization of excursion services,» the organization said.0005

Photo: Union «Young Professionals (WorldSkills Russia)»

the same tasks as the students. “We sought to unite the professional industry and educational institutions. TravelSkills succeeded, and we are very happy about this,” she stressed.

Photo: Union «Young Professionals (WorldSkills Russia)»

As Tatyana Frolova, Deputy Director of the Corporate Services Department of Intourist Tour Operator LLC, said, at the championship, companies involved in outbound tourism were able to try their hand at organizing internal tourism for the first time. , experts put forward interesting proposals, and this is good, because it is very important to be able to present your country in order to organize the flow of tourists to these regions,» she said.

Photo: Union «Young Professionals (WorldSkills Russia)»

Yury Shchegolkov, Director of the Foundation for the Development of Small Historical Towns of Russia, noted the high level of qualification of participants in the field of tourism. «In my opinion, this is a very interesting event. This is the first time I participate in such an event. The presented works of tour operators showed, on the one hand, their professionalism, on the other hand, that operators specializing in outbound tourism had difficulties with the task of domestic tourism. That is, there is still more to learn and learn,» he said. nine0005

Photo: Union «Young Professionals (WorldSkills Russia)»

acting. «It is a great honor for me to participate in the industry championship as a judge. I believe that our tourism should be professional, and we have begun to move towards this, albeit in small steps. Such an industry championship will give feedback. If we position our industry from that point view that we need high-level specialists, we will achieve very good results,» she explained. nine0005

Photo: Union «Young Professionals (WorldSkills Russia)»

According to experts, the overall level of the championship participants was quite high. At the same time, as Robert Urazov, General Director of the Union «Young Professionals (WorldSkills Russia)» noted, the best reward for the winners will be the opportunity to increase their competitiveness in the labor market.

Photo: Union «Young Professionals (WorldSkills Russia)»

Union «Young Professionals (WorldSkills Russia)» is the official representative of the international association WorldSkills, whose goal is to raise the status and standards of vocational training and qualifications around the world, popularize working professions through holding international competitions. nine0005

Movement «Young Professionals (WorldSkills Russia)»

Worldskills is an international non-profit movement whose goal is to increase the prestige of working professions and develop skills. From traditional crafts to multidisciplinary occupations in industry and the service sector in the 75 member countries of the movement, WorldSkills has a direct impact on the growth of vocational education around the world.

WorldSkills Championships are held every two years in different countries, they are attended by young skilled workers, university and college students under the age of 22 as participants, as well as well-known professionals, specialists, masters of industrial training and mentors — in as experts evaluating the performance of the task. nine0005

Competitors are selected through regional skill competitions in 75 WorldSkills member countries. They demonstrate their technical abilities, individual and collective qualities, solving problems that are as close to real as possible. The result of the team’s performance speaks not only about the personal professional qualities of the participants, but also about the level of professional training and the general level of quality of services in the home countries of the participants.

WORLDSKILLS RUSSIA today

• 84 regions of the Russian Federation that have joined the WorldSkills Russia movement
• 236 regional championships (of which 67 regional championships in 2016)
• over 40,000 contestants, 42,000 experts, over 1,400,000 spectators
• 4 National Championship Finals
• 3 National Championships of Cross-cutting Occupations of Hi-Tech Industries Hi-Tech
• 250 industrial enterprises involved in the movement

Vladimir Putin stressed the importance of participating in international competitions in working professions. nine0005

“By 2020, at least half of Russia’s colleges will train in the 50 most demanded and promising working professions in accordance with the best international standards and advanced technologies. An important indicator of the effectiveness of changes in vocational education should be the results of competitions for blue-collar and engineering professions. Such a system of professional competitions has existed in the world for a long time. Russia is actively involved in it. This is not only a step towards raising the prestige of the engineering and working professions, but also a good opportunity to focus on the most advanced frontiers in the training of engineers and workers, and build professional and educational standards on their basis. nine0072

You know that we are now taking part in various international competitions in working professions. Now I don’t have these data, I’ll reproduce them as a keepsake, they are very interesting. Three teams were created from leading enterprises, then students and completely schoolchildren from 14 to 17 years old. They performed different tasks, the same type. The most difficult tasks with the greatest effect were solved by schoolchildren from 14 to 17 years old. This also applied to the space industry, where they formed spacecraft. This also applied to purely working areas of activity, although highly skilled workers did this too. They overtook not only specialists from our leading enterprises, but also students from leading universities, and they overtook them many times over in terms of the number of points. What does this say? This suggests that, firstly, we have good groundwork, there are young people who are very talented and promising. But it also shows that we need to do a lot to change the system of training workers. What I was talking about. You just need to approach it informally. Everyone already understands what needs to be done, you just need to start doing it. Start and never slow down in this direction, because, as you know, as it was before, and now, just the quality of working specialties and the training of working people have changed, but still the most basic condition for the development of the economy is, of course, a highly trained and qualified working class, engineering cadres. We must never forget this. And, of course, it is necessary to create a network of certification centers where each employee could confirm his qualifications.