Bio
Tourism Trainer, Lecturer, Consultant and Tour Guide, Colette has over 25 years of experience in the Northern Ireland Tourism industry. She is a qualified Tour Guide, a Licensed WorldHost Trainer and is a registered OCN NI Centre.
Colette’s career in tourism began with a leading local tour operator. Following this she moved into tourism education as a Tourism and Marketing lecturer with Castlereagh and Belfast Metropolitan Colleges. She has designed and delivered a wide range of tourism and marketing courses from Level 2 to Postgraduate and was instrumental in introducing accredited tour guide training into Northern Ireland. Since leaving full time lecturing, Colette has developed two short courses in Tour Guiding at Levels 2 and 3, which are now accredited through OCN NI and provide progression onto the UU/BMC Level 4 Tour Guiding Course.
A practicing tour guide herself, Colette is a Steering Group Member of Tour Guides Northern Ireland (TGNI). She has worked with the North Belfast Partnership to develop a North Belfast Trail and with the Belfast Central Business District on a Linen Quarter Tour. As an OCN NI Centre, Colette has delivered accredited Level 2 and 3 Tour Guide Training for Mid Ulster Council, Seamus Heaney HomePlace and a number of Northern Ireland Landscape Partnerships. She is currently working on added value offerings to the Tour Guiding programmes, such as Storytelling and Presentation Skills.
Having delivered over a hundred programmes throughout Northern Ireland, Colette is also an experienced WorldHost Trainer. She has provided Licensed WorldHost Training Programmes
- Principles of Customer Service
- Ambassador
- Customers with Disabilities and
- Service Across Cultures
for many leading N.I. organisations including National Museums N.I., Belfast City Sightseeing, Horatio Todds, Action on Hearing Loss and PSNI.
In addition to her tourism work, Colette is an Assessor and Internal Verifier for the Creative and Cultural Sector Skills Council on their Apprenticeship programmes and has been providing support for the current pilot programme for the past two years.
Courses Delivered
Accredited –
- OCN NI Level 2 Award in Tour Guiding
- OCN NI Level 3 Certificate in Tour Guiding
- OCN NI Level 2 Skills for Employment, Training and Personal Development
World Host –
- Principles of Customer Service
- Ambassador
- Customers with Disabilities
- Service Across Cultures
Bespoke –
- Tourism Trails
- Tailored Itineraries
- Tailored Commentaries
Professional Memberships:
- Institute of Travel and Tourism, Chartered Institute of Marketing
SPECIALISMS: Tourism Development, Consultancy and Training