In 2006, and the winner was Danny Waine from Newcastle Business School at Northumbria University doing a BA (Hons) in Travel and Tourism Management. He was nominated for being an exceptional student and a travel and tourism ‘natural’. Danny was presented his Award at ASPIRE 06, and his prize was £500 worth of vouchers to be spent on attending any future ITT Event.
Danny explains what he spent his prize money on, and how being the 2006 ITT Student of the Year is helping his career:
“I decided to use my prize by going to the ITT Conference in Oman in June. The annual conference is aimed at top industry professionals, so I took the opportunity to build up some useful contacts for the future.
The highlight of the week was definitely the two minutes speaking on-stage at the close of the conference. But just to get the opportunity to visit Oman and stay in a top-class hotel was far more than I could have wished for.
Since then, I’ve been offered a job as Marketing & Development Manager for weddings abroad specialist, Perfect Weddings & Honeymoons, based in Staffordshire. My summer has been non-stop and has meant I’ve been glued to my PC and mobile, developing websites, designing adverts, dealing with enquiries, forming new contacts and establishing contracts with new suppliers both in the UK and overseas. On top of that, we’ve launched a brand new travel company and are close to launching an online ‘Wedding Extras’ shop to supplement our holiday bookings.
In the next few weeks I’ll be starting back at Newcastle Business School, at Northumbria University to complete the final year of my Travel & Tourism Management degree. Following that I intend to move down to Staffordshire to continue my job role, whilst studying for a marketing-related Masters degree.
I’m very grateful to my tutor Bridget Major for nominating me for the award, which has already opened so many doors!”
