Cork is well placed sitting between the Wild Atlantic Way and Ireland’s Ancient East and if you have an interest in promoting cork and Ireland by becoming involved in the Tourism sector then this is the course for you. You will learn about practical tour guide training, the IT skills needed to work in travel administration and receive training in Amadeus (GDS) used by travel agents and airlines worldwide.

Email: tourism@ccoc.ie          Tel: (021) 4223810

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1 year

QQI Level 5 Certificate in Tourism with Business 5M5011

QQI Component Maths 5N1833 (available as option in evening for learners requiring Maths for progression)

Amadeus Certificate and a package holiday booking system qualification awarded by the International Academy of Travel

€700 including QQI examination fees. (Medical card holders exempt from €250). See Payment for details.

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  • Tourism Principles and Practice 5N2078 – National and International Tourism. Understand the tourist product of Ireland as a unique destination and how to promote and sell it. Identify a range of international and national tourist attractions. Learn about tourist profiles and how they impact on tourist markets. Extensive field trips and site visits are an integral part of this component.
  • Tourism Information and Administration 5N0636 – Work independently in a tourist information office or in the front office of a range of tourism enterprises. Emphasis on providing advice to visitors on coaches, walking tours, places of interest etc.
  • Travel Agency Service Skills 5N4970 – Products and services offered by travel agencies. Market research for travel agency. Customer needs and customer focus. Develop a holiday package tailored for specific customer requirements.
  • Web Authoring 5N1910 – Construct, test and maintain webpages and sites for the Tourism industry using HTML, CSS and WordPress
  • Spreadsheets 5N1977 – Produce a spreadsheet that meets a simple design specification and is fit for purpose. Learn a range of spreadsheet features such as data and cell formatting techniques, conditional IF statements, financial, date and time functions. Generate a variety of types of graphs from spreadsheet data. Use spreadsheets to learn to cost tourism packages.
  • Global Distribution Systems 6N4973 -Make and amend airline reservations using the Amadeus system which is used by travel agencies and airlines throughout Ireland and the world
  • Work Experience 5N1356 – Plan, prepare and reflect on work placement. Job finding strategies, CV and personal statement preparation, interview skills. Practise employability skills with a view to future planning.
  • Communications 5N0690 – Acquire the writing skills needed for the workplace, learn to speak fluently and coherently in a professional setting, develop interpersonal skills and have an understanding of the impact of ICT on society.  
  • Spanish 4N1178 – An introduction to everyday Spanish language, culture and basic grammar used in everyday situations

Leaving Certificate, LCA or QQI Level 4. Mature students are exempt from Leaving Certificate requirement. All applicants are interviewed. An offer of a place on this course is contingent on the applicant meeting the entry requirements set out here and satisfactory presentation at interview

  • Two week work placement
  • Training in Amadeus Reservation system
  • Professional guest lecturers
  • Practical Tour Guide Training
  • Field Trips and Site Evaluations – filed trips in the 17/18 academic year include
  1. OPW heritage sites Swiss Cottage, Cahir Castle, Rock of Cashel
  2. Trip to the Burren (Cliffs of Moher Interpretive Centre & Burren walk with Burren Guide)
  3. Ormonde Castle, Carrick on Suir, Fethard Horse Country Experience, Fethard, Co. Tipperary.
  4. Nano Nagle Place
  5. Reginald’s Tower Waterford & Waterford Airport
  6. River Lee Hotel
  7. Visit to Lord Mayor of Cork

Excellent progression opportunities including:

  • CCOC: QQI Level 6 Advanced Tourism (6M5012)
  • CIT: Tourism Management Level 7 (CR041)
  • CIT: Tourism Management Level 8 (CR660)
  • UCC: Arts Level 8 (CK101)

Excellent progression opportunities to UCC and other Higher Education colleges. Special arrangements in place with CIT (CCPS), Tralee IT and Waterford IT for preferential entry for College of Commerce students. Up to 390 CAO points for any Institute of Technology can be attained by successful completion of this course. See Progressions for details.

Tour operations, tourist offices, tour guides, hotels and conference organisers, retail agencies, cruise liners. All students can access the Jobs Advice Hub.Graduates can subscribe to ‘CCOC college jobs register’ and CCOC LinkedIn alumni for up to date vacancies and networking.

I am currently working full time in the new Aspire lounge handling private passengers, private aircraft and crew and business class guests in Cork Airport, I am now permanently employed there.

The college course I completed in College of Commerce really helped me in the workplace as we handle the Amadeus system on a daily basis and the general systems and checking we use are very similar it.

The information I learnt comes in useful most days in a tourism point of view as well as the airline business point of view, as well as the many other classes I took, such as customer service, they relate to the industry and day to day life in the airport and Aviation industry very much as it is an ever changing environment.

The day classes and half day grooming talks helped greatly too as we have a strict grooming and uniform code in the lounge and these classes helped me.

Just want to say a big thank you to all the staff in college of commerce who helped and helped improve on myself.

Lily Carpenter, Now working at the Aspire Lounge, Cork Airport

I have worked with Cork College of Commerce for the past number of years when I needed to recruit junior travel consultants. We are extremely fortunate to have 4 of their students now working with us full time. These students are well trained, ready for work, professional in their outlook and have all gone on to form an integral part of the various support teams in CTM. We are delighted to work with the college as we can be guaranteed we secure suitably trained students that match the culture and work ethos of CTM.

Maria Murphy, Operations Director, Frosch CTM

The Level 5 Travel & Tourism course led me straight to employment in the Tourism sector. I attended the course as a mature student who had recently returned from spending two years in Australia. Upon returning home, despite already having a degree, I found it difficult to find employment which I felt suited me, so I hoped that doing this course would give me the tools to find such employment. One thing that worried me about doing the course was that all the students would be a lot younger than me, but I was delighted to find that the students in my class were a mix of all ages and nationalities. I made many friends from the class who have I stayed in contact with.
During my year, I learnt a lot about what it takes to work in Tourism. We also visited many heritage sites around the country, my favourite being the Rock of Cashel. At all the sites we visited, the staff gave us an insight into their jobs and how they acquired them. We also received many talks from guest speakers in the sector, giving us tips and suggestions on ways to gain employment in fields such as Tour Guiding and Travel Agencies, among others. When I completed the course, I was told about job opportunities as a tour guide on Spike Island in Cork Harbour. After attending an interview, which I was extremely prepared for having done interview training as part of the course, I was offered a position which I accepted. It was definitely thanks to the Level 5 Travel & Tourism course that I got this job, and I look forward to working in Tourism for many years to come

John Goulding, Tour Guide, Spike Island

International Airline Studies was an ideal choice for me. As a person who is big into travelling, it suited me so well, and it made a brilliant foundation for the pathway I intend to take for my future career. It helped me to discover my flair for languages, especially Spanish. I have now gone onto further studies of Spanish as parts of an Arts degree in UCC. I hope to go on and become a translator in airport security or possibly teach Spanish.

Edel O'Meara Ryan, UCC student

The Level 5 Travel & Tourism course led me straight to employment in the Tourism sector. I attended the course as a mature student who had recently returned from spending two years in Australia. Upon returning home, despite already having a degree, I found it difficult to find employment which I felt suited me, so I hoped that doing this course would give me the tools to find such employment. One thing that worried me about doing the course was that all the students would be a lot younger than me, but I was delighted to find that the students in my class were a mix of all ages and nationalities. I made many friends from the class who have I stayed in contact with.

During my year, I learnt a lot about what it takes to work in Tourism. We also visited many heritage sites around the country, my favourite being the Rock of Cashel. At all the sites we visited, the staff gave us an insight into their jobs and how they acquired them. We also received many talks from guest speakers in the sector, giving us tips and suggestions on ways to gain employment in fields such as Tour Guiding and Travel Agencies, among others. When I completed the course, I was told about job opportunities as a tour guide on Spike Island in Cork Harbour. After attending an interview, which I was extremely prepared for having done interview training as part of the course, I was offered a position which I accepted. It was definitely thanks to the Level 5 Travel & Tourism course that I got this job, and I look forward to working in Tourism for many years to come.

John Goulding, Travel and Tourism