I am a 3rd year student at University of Lincoln studying International Tourism Management. I have been studying about culture and social and political perspective on tourism this past academic year.
It sparked my interest on different subjects, but migration hit close to home, therefore I have chosen to write about it in my blog. Additionally it links with the industry I want to work in and I believe that there need to be changes made. Furthermore I am volunteering at an organisation called Just Lincolnshire, it is an organisation whose purpose is to make a real difference to the lives of people from all backgrounds. By championing equality, tackling discrimination and celebrating the richly diverse make up of Lincolnshire. Since I started volunteering I have been involved with several events. In one of them I have been involved since the very beginning of the planning process that has given me a lot of insight into event planning and how organisations work together to achieve a common goal, but most importantly this event is about raising awareness about hate crime and I hope it will make a difference.
People within the tourism industry have to learn more about issues that migrants face and think how they can help and change the environment in which they work. Perhaps in this blog I can share the information and research completed in this field, combine it with my knowledge and experiences, as I am a part of so called migrant community, and give a different perspective on things.
I will focus on issues like what are the reasons migrants’ enter the hospitality workforce, what are their employment experiences, are they treated differently because they are migrants, because they don’t know their rights fully and are afraid to lose their jobs or is it because of the lack of language skills that limit the ability to stand up for themselves?
I am inviting you to see the invisible, to the general public, side of tourism – a video of BBC’s investigation on exploitation of migrant workers at leading hotels.