AN EPIC EXPERIENCE
Through tourism, 21-year-old NICOLE LANDY can combine her love of travel with her passion for helping people. The TU Dublin student talks about her course in Tourism Marketing and her part-time role at EPIC, the Irish Emigration Museum in Dublin’s IFSC.
I have always loved travel but it wasn’t until Transition Year, when I had the opportunity to do work experience in the GAA’s Croke Park Museum and won the Glasnevin Cemetery Tour Guide competition, that I considered a career in the tourism industry. Both experiences gave me a real taste of what it is like to help people – especially tourists – learn about history and about Ireland. I have always felt that it is important to be a good ambassador to visitors and tourism is an ideal way to do this.
COLLEGE CHOICE
Although I was keen to study tourism in college, I hadn’t thought about marketing. I had a choice to do a three- year Tourism Management course but ultimately opted for the four-year Tourism Marketing degree as it offered an opportunity to study abroad with the Erasmus programme.
I’m in my fourth and final year now and I’m really enjoying the course. It’s a mix of academic writing and creative concepts, and it covers the financial aspects of tourism also. You learn all about operating a tourism business, with a side of hospitality, leisure and events. And of course, there is a huge focus on how to market your tourism operation and entice people into your business.
A SEMESTER IN THE ARCTIC CIRCLE
For my Erasmus exchange I was given the opportunity to spend six months studying in either the Netherlands, Hungary or Finland and I leaped at the chance to travel to Rovaniemi in Lapland. It was an amazing experience arriving in the Artic Circle in the depths of winter when the temperature plummeted to -45°C! I took three classes in daily operations management, designing profitable tourism services and accounting, and I also learned basic Finnish, which has come in very handy when Finnish tourists visit EPIC. I loved every minute of my time on the Erasmus programme and I got to meet people from so many different countries and cultures, including my Belgian roommate who became my best friend.
EPIC JOB
I joined the Visitor Experience team in EPIC in the autumn of my third year in college, taking up a full-time role the following spring as part of my course internship. My role involves engaging with the visitor at all points of their journey through EPIC, whether that’s selling them tickets, guiding them through the museum or answering any questions they may have about the museum content or building.
There is no such thing as an average day in EPIC and that’s what I love about working here, and in the tourism industry in general. You can encounter three tribal warrior kings from Nigeria one minute and meet an elderly lady who has returned home after living abroad for 60 years the next. Visitors come to EPIC for any number of reasons – they emigrated, they are of Irish heritage, they are interested in Ireland or they just heard about the museum – so you need to be able to adapt and make quick judgment calls on what your visitors want from their experience and ensure they feel welcomed and valued.
We put a lot of time and effort into ensuring our visitors feel comfortable and appreciated. This effort helped us win a World Travel Award for ‘Europe’s Leading Tourist Attraction’ and our team was also recently certified in Customer Service Excellence by Fáilte Ireland. I was part of both projects so I feel very proud of how our team worked together to achieve this success.
PLANS FOR THE FUTURE
Along with college and work, I also play rugby for Railway Union, one of Ireland’s oldest rugby clubs, and our team won our first Women’s All-Ireland League title in 2019. Between studying for my degree, completing my thesis, working part-time in EPIC, and playing rugby, my final year in college is going to be very busy but I hope to fit in some travel too.
The opportunity to travel is one of the greatest advantages of working in tourism. After college I plan to work overseas for a while, then I hope to come back to EPIC or perhaps the Guinness Storehouse, where I worked part-time during my first year in college. I feel incredibly lucky to be able to list three of Ireland’s best tourism attractions, the Croke Park Museum, Guinness Storehouse and EPIC, on my CV already and I know that these experiences will benefit me as my career progresses.
At this stage, I have no idea where my career might take me and I am quite happy to see where the opportunities arise but I would love to stay working in tourism attractions. They are such happy places and it is wonderful to see people enjoying their experiences every day and know that you are a part of that.
Find out more about the EPIC experience at epicchq.com and @epicmuseumchq
