Tourist board executive Abdullah Alaydrus is
project executive for industry development at VisitEngland,
the national tourist board for England
“I didn’t begin my career in travel, but I’ve always been passionate about the world so, naturally, travel has always been a part of my life. I became involved in travel and tourism projects during my previous career at a consulting company and it really opened my eyes to the industry’s importance. What struck me most is that travel represents the most precious time of someone’s year, as well as contributing to local communities and economies. “That’s when I decided to shift from working to travel to
working in travel. I did a postgraduate degree in tourism at Bournemouth University, which helped give me a glimpse of what the industry’s all about. After I graduated, I completed an internship at a tourism marketing agency. I’d always wanted to work for a tourist board so when the opportunity arose nearly two years ago, I applied for a role at VisitEngland.
WHAT MY DAY LOOKS LIKE
9AM: I begin each morning reviewing my activity plan and checking my emails. 0»SS HKKYLZZ HU` \YNLU[ YLX\LZ[Z ÄYZ[ HUK then I will usually have internal meetings with my line manager or the wider team.
11AM: 0 ÄUK [OH[ [OPZ PZ ^OLU 0 ^VYR ILZ[ so I’ll focus on anything that requires deep concentration, such as reviewing communications content or analysing survey data.
12PM: Typically I would have some external meetings with partners during
28 28
this part of the day. Alternatively, I would use this time to prepare for any upcoming events that we might have, or perhaps trade shows for the tourism industry.
3PM: I’ll spend some time gathering updates from across the team to create a report on our current projects, either for senior leadership or the wider team.
4PM: At the end of my day, I usually make sure to dedicate some time to reading industry news from various travel media platforms to stay up to date.
(U PUK\Z[Y` H^HYKZ JLYLTVU` OVZ[LK I` =PZP[,UNSHUK “I’ve been part of the industry development team ever since. We
focus on growing and diversifying our tourism offerings for visitors. Our work spans from accessibility to regenerative tourism standards and academy programmes. One day I might take part in industry roundtable discussions or attending trade shows, and the next I could be supporting our communications team or preparing for an event.”
H “If you have a genuine
passion for people, then I think you’ll be a NYLH[ Ä[ MVY [OL PUK\Z[Y` 0
^V\SK ZH` P[»Z H M\UKHTLU[HS YLX\PYLTLU[ ILJH\ZL `V\ JHU YLHSS` ZLL [OL ZVJPHS PTWHJ[ ^OPSL [HPSVYPUN VY JYHM[PUN L_WLYPLUJLZ MVY ]PZP[VYZ ¹
takeoffintravel.co.uk
takeoffintravel.co.uk
I
A
B
D
U
L
S
L
’
A
T
O
P
T
P
PICTURES: VisitBritain/Kevin Moran/Kit Fanner OLE; The Red Carnation Hotel Collection
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76
