When stories about long queues at UK airports hit the headlines last summer, travel woes were blamed on staffing shortages across the industry. But with the government intent on removing funding for travel and tourism courses, which the sector relies on for its pipeline of future talent, its recruitment problems are only set to get worse.
The travel and tourism sector appears to have been all but forgotten in the government’s massive reforms to level 3 qualifications. You won’t find it mentioned at all in DfE’s guide to post-16 qualifications from 2025 – despite several courses facing the axe from 2025.
And yet classroom travel and tourism courses are popular with young people as well as employers.
Analysis of applied general qualifications by the Protect Student Choice campaign, led by the Sixth Form Colleges Association, found Pearson’s BTEC level 3 national extended certificate in travel and tourism has 3,510 young people aged 16 to 18 enrolled in 2022/23, with 1,010 enrolled on its national foundation diploma, and 600 on its national certificate.
