Tourism officer

Tourism officers promote tourism and event-related economic growth in order to generate and increase revenue for a particular city, region or site

As a tourism officer, you'll be responsible for key areas such as marketing, visitor management and the development of tourism campaigns, products, services and facilities.

You can work for a range of employers, including public and private destination management organisations, public agencies or partnerships and local authorities.

The role is varied and may include many different types of work. At more senior levels, your job will involve strategic planning, particularly in local authorities.

Alternative job titles include destinations manager and destinations management officer.

Responsibilities

As a tourism officer, you'll need to:

• prepare and commission tourist and visitor information, including art work
• write press releases and copy for tourism guides and newsletters
• produce promotional material and design displays
• set up and attend exhibitions and holiday shows
• organise special and seasonal events and festivals
• develop e-tourism platforms, including websites, and construct business databases
• manage and coordinate tourism services publicity via a range of social media platforms, including Twitter and Facebook
• devise and plan tours and arrange itineraries
• liaise with local operators, the media, designers and printers
• manage staff, budgets and staff training needs
• order products and services
• provide funding and business advice and send e-newsletters to local businesses
• write and present reports and business plans for committees
• plan and write funding applications
• work on product development
• give talks to local parties, community groups and schools, and handle media enquiries
• undertake market research with members of the public and visitors to particular attractions
• carry out strategic planning and development, such as commissioning and/or producing tourism strategies and economic impact studies for implementation, or lobbying, devising and implementing marketing campaigns.

Salary

• Salaries at trainee/assistant level are in the region of £16,000 to £20,000, depending on your employer, location and experience.
• Salaries at tourism officer levels are between around £21,000 and £28,000.
• Senior tourism officer and management-level jobs are around £30,000 to £40,000. Jobs available at the most senior levels can be in excess of this amount.

Salaries vary depending on your experience, the type of employer you work for, the area of tourism and your location.

Income figures are intended as a guide only.

Working hours

You'll usually work a standard 37.5-hour week but may need to work some evenings when attending meetings, events and exhibitions.

There may be opportunities for flexible working.

What to expect

• The work is usually office based but may involve work outside and at different locations during the working day.
• The tourism industry as a whole has seen a significant decline in the number of jobs due to the effects of the pandemic and is currently struggling to recruit enough people into roles. The World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) reports that existing labour shortages, combined with the difficulty of attracting new staff and the reduction in migrant workers, mean that positions are likely to remain unfilled for some time. However, this may affect the role of tourism officers less than some other areas of the industry.
• Setting up exhibitions and events may be physically demanding.
• Invitations to new exhibitions and entertainment venues can be an attraction of working in this industry.
• Absence from home at night and overseas work or travel may be required occasionally.

Qualifications

Although this area of work is open to all graduates, the following subjects may increase your chances:

• business/management studies
• leisure management
• marketing
• media studies
• modern languages
• public relations
• travel and tourism management
• urban/rural regeneration.

A range of undergraduate (and postgraduate) qualifications is available in tourism, tourism management and heritage management. Research courses carefully and contact individual institutions to identify your areas of interest.

The Tourism Management Institute (TMI), the professional body for tourism destination managers, has a list of TMI Recognised Courses at both undergraduate and postgraduate level.

Personal qualities, skills and relevant experience, particularly of working within a customer-focused or tourism role, can be more important than your degree subject.

Entry without a degree or HND is possible if you have relevant experience in working with tourism businesses at a local, regional or national level.

Although you don't need a postgraduate qualification, a tourism or marketing qualification may increase your chances of employment if your first degree is not directly relevant, particularly if combined with relevant experience.

Search postgraduate courses in tourism, hospitality and event management.

Skills

You'll need to have:

• excellent communication, presentation and interpersonal skills in order to consult with a range of people, including local businesses, community groups and key stakeholders
• commercial awareness and an entrepreneurial approach to work
• customer service, marketing and PR skills
• organisation and planning skills
• wide-ranging IT skills
• the ability to use your initiative
• flexibility
• resourcefulness
• the ability to produce or deliver a quality product or service on a limited budget
• management and project management skills
• creativity
• an eye for design
• an innovative approach to work
• local knowledge and a lively interest in the sector
• willingness to travel
• a driving licence - is not essential but can be useful.

Work experience

It's vital to get some relevant work experience as this is a popular career choice. You can do this in several ways, such as through a work placement or internship, holiday work, volunteering or casual work.

Working as a tourism assistant in a tourist information centre is particularly useful preparation for this role and may even lead to a tourism officer position. Other suitable experience includes working in a marketing, information or economic development role.

Working or helping out at any of the following is also helpful:

• commercial tourist attractions
• events
• local authority leisure departments
• museums.

Any ways in which you can develop good customer service and commercial skills are worth pursuing, such as working in sales, marketing or retailing.

Find out more about the different kinds of work experience and internships that are available.

Employers

You'll need to be proactive in your job seeking as competition can be fierce for tourism officer posts. Employers include:

• local authorities
• destination management organisations (DMOs) - see Visit Britain and the Scottish Destination Management Association (SDMA) for lists
• national parks
• business improvement districts (BIDs)
• commercial tourist attractions
• wildlife trusts
• Forestry England
• National Trust and the National Trust for Scotland.

If tourism is a significant part of the regional economy, the local enterprise partnership (LEP) may prioritise the delivery of tourism within their strategic economic plan.

County, district and borough councils may employ tourism or marketing/visitor development officers to market and develop visitor attractions and tourist destinations.

Increasingly, most employers in this area expect post holders to become involved with economic development, strategic planning and regeneration issues, in addition to the more traditional tourism activities. Tourism officers, therefore, usually work closely with residents and businesses in a local community to support the local economy.

The private sector, which includes private heritage sites, visitor attractions and leisure companies, also provides employment opportunities. There may be opportunities to work for private development companies and consortia undertaking project marketing and development.

Look for job vacancies at:

• Leisure Media Jobs
• LocalGov Jobs
• Marketing Week
• Tourism Management Institute (TMI)
• Visit Britain - Careers

Professional development

Most of your training will be delivered on the job, usually when working with colleagues or by learning from the development of a specific project.

If you work for a local authority, you may be able to access council training programmes, in areas such as:

• funding applications
• report writing
• IT skills
• personal development
• presentation skills
• networking.

Private employers may fund training in a specialised area, as required by the demands of a particular project.

General and specialist training courses, seminars and conferences are available through key professional bodies such as the TMI and The Tourism Society.

Professional membership can also provide networking and other professional development opportunities.

Postgraduate tourism management qualifications are also available to develop a particular career focus.

Career prospects

It can take some time to get into a tourism officer role, so try to gain as much relevant on-the-job experience as you can. You'll typically start in an assistant role before moving into the role of tourism officer after gaining experience.

Once in post, you'll need to build up a track record of successful projects. As local authorities often employ only one tourism officer, opportunities to progress can be fairly limited without relocation.

With experience, you may be able to move into a managerial position, where you’ll usually work at a strategic level, with responsibility for budgets, staff and operations.

From this, it may be possible to move into senior management and work with a broader remit. For example, delivering growth and enterprise in a particular region. Roles at this level are scarce though, so you'll need to build up a range of experience to compete for them.

With enough experience and specialisation in a particular area, some tourism officers go on to work for private consultancies or on a self-employed consultancy basis. Possibilities include freelance marketing and consultancy work or setting up, developing and managing a tourist attraction.

You may find opportunities arise as a result of regeneration and economic development projects.