The consortium said on Thursday (17 August) the scheme – which is available to all members, leisure and business – would boost recruitment and help address travel’s skills shortage, particularly with government poised to cut funding for level three tourism courses.

“We want to help our members create apprenticeship opportunities to attract new talent into our economic sector across the UK,” said Advantage chief executive Julia Lo Bue-Said. 

“We have engaged with A S Training who will be supporting apprentices in their training and understanding of the travel industry, and as a business, we will be actively involved with their development through webinars and briefings from the Partnership’s management team.”

Lo Bue-Said added Advantage’s leadership team would work with local colleges and universities to encourage students to consider careers in the travel sector once they graduate.

Since launching its partnership with A S Training, Advantage said apprentices had been placed successfully with several members including Polka Dot Travel, Destination Travel, Sunlounger Travel, Beverley Travel, ArrangeMy Escape, TravelTime World and Oakhurst Travel.

The announcement follows the government’s decision earlier this year to defund travel and tourism courses at the further and higher education levels from 2025.

The Department for Education published in April a review of post-16 courses, announcing that funding for academic and technical qualifications such as A and T levels will continue at the expense of more vocational routes such as Btechs – which have been a more common route into the industry.

According to Lo Bue-Said, the decision is a symptom of the government failing to recognise the economic importance of outbound travel. “Travel and tourism just isn’t thought about as an important economic driver that the government wants to invest in,” she told TTG in June.

Her words were echoed by industry figures such as Jo Rzymowska, Claire Steiner and Danny Waine, as well as Dr Peter Robinson and Dr Ross Tinsley, co-chairs of the Association for Tourism in Higher Education (ATHE).

The industry is nevertheless fighting back against such a controversial decision by calling on the government to provide appropriate post-16 qualifications for travel and tourism.