Former students flying high in travel and tourism industry

Two former students landed at Fife College to share how their travel and tourism courses helped get their careers off to a flying start.

Billy Mackie and Rebecca Saxton, who both completed travel and tourism courses at Fife College’s Kirkcaldy Campus, work as cabin crew members for Jet2.

Billy (27) and Rebecca (23) have now shared how their courses at Fife College got their careers ready for take-off.

Billy, who completed the Travel and Tourism National Certificate before going on to complete the HNC and HND level, said:

“I was originally working in a shop and I wanted to do something completely different that maybe used the skills that I learned in sales and customer service.

“The courses at college helped me immensely because it gave me experience in all the job roles that I’ve gone on to do.”

Billy, who was holiday rep with TUI before becoming a cabin member for Jet2 , added:

“The courses really prepare you for what to expect in the job. They give you real tasters of what you need to do in the job role, you get all the tools, resources and knowledge you need to succeed in the industry.”

Rebecca, who started as a ground operator with Jet2 before also moving into a cabin crew role, said:

“I became interested in travel and tourism at school. I thought a career in holidays would be perfect for me and that college was a good way to get into the industry.

“The course at the Kirkcaldy Campus was amazing, the lecturers were lovely and all the students got on really well together. That’s carried on into the airport as a lot of them work there too.

“My ambition is to remain in travel and tourism as I think it’s a career you can do for a long time because there are so many different paths you can go down. I absolutely love working for Jet2 so it would be great to move up in the company and maybe work abroad.”

Fife College offer several travel and tourism courses, from Intermediate Certificate up to HNC and HND level. 

The Intermediate Certificate: Passport to Travel and Tourism course, which offers a mixture of online classes and in-college teaching, uses learning resources from the industry-leading Mondrago Travel Academy, while the in-college part of the course makes use of the college’s state-of-the-art real-life training cabin to develop cabin crew skills. At the end of the course, successful students are guaranteed an interview with Jet2 to land their first role in their dream careers.

Photograph attached: Billy Mackie and Rebecca Saxton are pictured in the training cabin at Fife College’s Kirkcaldy Campus.