Welcome

Entertaining your community in local government tourism development
 
Introduction
Local government tourism officers are responsible for the development of the council's tourism strategy, the promotion of tourism and support for tourism related businesses in a local area.
 
Work Environment
Local government tourism officers are usually office based, although they may be required to travel to tourist centres and attractions.

Daily Activities
Tourism can have an enormous impact on a town or region and has great potential to increase the prosperity of an area.  Local government tourism officers work to develop this potential and may be involved in some or all of the following tasks:

• promoting existing tourist attractions through advertising campaigns, working with digital media and developing promotional literature;
• carrying out research of existing tourist attractions to gain customer feedback in order to make improvements;
• working with the media and other local partner organisations to raise the profile of the local area, generate positive publicity and create a brand identity for the area;
• organising exhibition stands at conferences nationally to promote the area;
• attracting business conventions and conferences to the area;
• providing support, guidance and sometimes administering funding for local tourism related business and advising new tourism businesses;
• encouraging the development of new jobs within the tourism sector;
• bringing in tourism development funding to the area;
• assessing the impact that any planned developments may have upon the local environment weighed against the potential benefits;
• consulting with local tourism businesses such as tour operators, restaurants and guest-houses, to assess how effective current tourism development policies are and to develop an overall tourism development strategy;
• overseeing the council's tourist information offices.

Skills & Interests
Local government tourism officers need:

• to be excellent communicators, able to consult with a wide range of people; 
• creativity and innovative strategic thinking; 
• good PR and marketing skills; 
• excellent customer service skills; 
• budget management skills; 
• good organisational skills.

Entry Requirements
Although there are no set entry requirements, most local councils ask for some previous experience within the travel and tourism industry.  They might also require relevant qualifications, such as a degree or HND in travel and tourism, marketing or possibly economic development.  N/SVQs in travel and tourism are also available at levels 2 and 3.
 
Future Prospects & Opportunities
There is a progression route from tourist information assistant, to assistant tourism officer and then tourism officer.  Further progression is possible by moving into managerial positions both within the tourism development section and to other departments such as economic development and regeneration.

Further Information & Services
ABTA www.abta.com
Institute of Travel and Tourism www.itt.co.uk
People 1st www.people1st.co.uk
The Chief Cultural & Leisure Officers Association www.cloa.org.uk
The Tourism Society www.tourismsociety.org

You may find further information about this area of work through Careers Wales (www.careerswales.com/) or in your local library, careers office or school careers library.