Ireland is famed for its natural beauty, music, sport, literary and built heritage, arts culture and, most especially, a warm welcome. With an abundance of experiences to choose from, visitors often plan their trip around a tourist attraction or activity.
From the Wild Atlantic Way, across Ireland’s Hidden Heartlands, and Ancient East to bustling cities like Belfast, Dublin, Cork, Galway and Limerick, the huge range of attractions and experiences mean that career options within this sector are incredibly varied.
Some visitors come for our cultural, historical and built heritage such as Newgrange, Dublin Castle, Glendalough and Kylemore Abbey. Others revel in the outdoors, our coastlines, national parks and UNESCO World Heritage sites such as The Cliffs of Moher and The Giant’s Causeway. Over a million tourists visit the Book of Kells each year and also enjoy our art galleries and museums. The Guinness Storehouse consistently rates as one of the most visited attractions in Ireland.
There are also many different types of activities available for tourists, many of which are free. Some of the most popular outdoors are Hiking/Walking/Cycling, Golfing/Equestrian, Sailing/Surfing/Cruising/Angling and other water-based activities. Unique wellness experiences, shopping and English language courses are also popular with visitors.
Is this Sector for me?
In this sector you will get the opportunity to meet many interesting people, from all walks of life, on a daily basis. You should be organised, friendly, welcoming and have good people skills. People who work in this sector need to be good communicators and problem solvers to deal with unexpected situations such as a tour being cancelled or a visitor becoming unwell. The ability to work as part of a team is essential. The nature of the sector requires flexible working hours so you must be adaptable. There is a diverse range of working environments and the transferable skills you will gain are highly sought after by employers and open up fantastic travel opportunities.
The level of skills and training needed for jobs in this sector vary. Health & Safety training is often required to ensure that tourists’ experiences are safe and Maintenance staff are an essential part of this.
Due to the variety of jobs, some roles such as drivers, tour guides, activity instructors and management positions will require specific qualifications or experience.
Many people enter this sector in a part-time or seasonal capacity and find that they thrive on the interaction and variety in their job and go on to develop a career in the industry.
What roles can I choose?
The huge variety of attractions and activities available to our visitors mean that career options within this sector are incredibly varied. Ireland hosts a wide range of high profile sporting competitions such as the GAA, Rugby, Football,Horse Racing and Golf. As well as attending the sporting fixtures, many visitors also take the stadium tour and visit other tourist sites in the vicinity. Ireland on screen offers tours to our iconic filming locations for blockbuster TV series and films such as the Games of Thrones and Star Wars, which attract fans from all over the world.
These attractions and others offer great opportunities to work in a wide variety of roles from entry level to managerial. These range from ticket seller, reservations staff, sales assistantto marketing, coach driver, tour guide, visitor experience managers and activities organisers.
Other more specialised roles, depending on the attraction or activity, include outdoor activity instructors, racecourse hospitality executive and historian. Language skills and retail skills are in demand by employers as many of our tourists spend a large part of their travel budget on Irish craft products and the growing luxury goods market.
Read about Valerie’s role as Manager at Arigna Mining Experience or a day in the life of a Theme Park Manager. Check out what it takes to manage Sligo Oyster Experience. Whatever your interest the sector offers unrivalled opportunities to build your career from the ground up, retrain or upskill.
Begin your career journey today
There are many different routes to join this dynamic sector working directly with tourists. Any work experience will give you valuable customer service skills.
You may prefer to go tocollegewhere there are many courses at different levels.A broad based qualification in Hospitality Management is a good starting point. There are one year FET courses, such as Culture & Heritage Studies which will kick start your career and have progression routes to CAO courses in Tourism Management. If you prefer the outdoors you can train as an Advanced Outdoor Activity Instructor. If you are confident, energetic and would like to share your particular passion, such as history, film or the natural world, you can train as a Regional Tour Guide or a National Tour Guide. If you want a career change or to upskill, postgraduate options include Tourism & Heritage Management.
As well as this sector, there are an abundance oflive jobs and other career opportunities in hospitality and tourism.