LMC Travel & Tourism students compete in the Lancashire Skills Competition

Posted: 13.03.2025

This week, Lancaster & Morecambe College (LMC) hosted the Travel & Tourism Lancashire Skills Competition at Lancaster’s Williamson Park.

Students from Blackpool and The Fylde College, Preston College and Lancaster & Morecambe College competed in a variety of skill-based tasks that enabled them to showcase their talents. The judging panel oversaw each task, and consisted of Gill Lomas from World Travel Holdings, Johnny Bean, an organiser for Baylight Festival, Bethan Harrison and Paul Blott from The Lancashire Colleges and Joanne McCaffrey from Lancashire Skills & Employment Hub.

The first task centered on a customer service challenge, with each college tackling four different role-play scenarios designed to test their communication and problem-solving skills. In one scenario, students had to handle a phone call from an upset customer, while another required them to deliver a professional briefing. A third challenge involved responding to a social media enquiry, and in the final task a student dealt with an angry customer face to face.

Nicola Conway, the Programme Area Manager for Travel & Tourism said:

The Lancashire Skills Competition gave the students an excellent opportunity to develop, test and showcase their skills amongst their peers. Williamson Park and Ashton Memorial gave us an incredible location to host the event with everyone stunned by the views across the bay. The students selected for the competition were a mix of Level 2 and Level 3 Travel & Tourism students, each show casing their abilities across a range of activities. The students were a credit to the College and themselves, and should be very proud of their achievements on the day.

The second task challenged students to showcase their creativity and marketing skills by filming promotional TikTok videos for Williamson Park. This activity encouraged them to think outside the box and develop engaging content. The ideas they came up with were just incredible! Students from Preston College took a unique approach, filming their video from the perspective of a dog exploring the park. Blackpool and The Fylde College focused on storytelling, capturing the stories of both visitors and staff. while students from Lancaster & Morecambe College opted for an informative style, compiling scenic clips of the park with a voiceover detailing its key attractions.

Chloe Gardner, a student on our Travel & Tourism Level 3 course won a Medallion of Excellence Award and had this to say about the day:

I had a great time at Williamson's Park competing with the different colleges. The event really helped with my public speaking and confidence to talk in front of a group of people. It also helped me to understand what qualities employers are looking for.

My favourite part was creating a video as we got to access all areas of the park, and learnt new things about it. Seeing the videos the other groups had made was also fun.

The final task of the day focused on the students teamwork and public speaking skills with each college creating and presenting their own sustainable resort. Each college had to ensure their resort was fit for purpose, used sustainable resources and focused on the local area. This included the food their resort would serve, the rooms, the transport to and from the resort, and also the activities people could do whilst there. Once the groups had planned their resort, they then had to present it to the judges and the other colleges.

The results on the day were as follows:

Well done everyone!