Department of Hospitality Page 1 of 6 HND Assignment Brief Session: February 2017 Programme title Pearson BTEC Level 5 HND in Travel and Tourism Management Unit number and title 11 Travel and Tourism Entrepreneur Assignment number & title 1 of 1 Skills for Travel and Tourism Start-ups Unit Leader N Saleem Assessor (s) N Saleem and Roya R Issue Date Final assignment submission deadline 05-10 June 2017 Late submission deadline 12-17 June 2017 The learners are required to follow the strict deadline set by the College for submissions of assignments in accordance with the BTEC level 4 – 7 submission guidelines and College policy on submissions. They should also refer to Merit and Distinction criteria that require evidence of meeting agreed timelines and ability to plan and organise time effectively without which the learner may not expect to receive a higher grade. Resubmission deadline TBA Feedback In-class feedback will be available from draft submissions on a task-by-task basis as a formative feedback and also for initial submission. Final feedback will be available within 2 – 3 weeks of the assignment submission date. General Guidelines  The work you submit must be in your own words. If you use a quote or an illustration from somewhere you must give the source.  Include a list of references at the end of your document. You must give all your sources of information.  Make sure your work is clearly presented and that you use readily understandable English.  Wherever possible use a word processor and its “spell-checker”. Internal verifier Signature (IV of the brief) * Date Department of Hospitality Page 2 of 6 ICON College of Technology and Management Pearson BTEC Level 5 HND in Travel and Tourism Management (QCF) Session: February 2017 Unit 11: Travel and Tourism Entrepreneur Level 5 This Unit will be assessed by written assignment and class presentation ASSIGNMENT Assignment Context and Business Scenario Related to Task 1: Task 1 of this assignment is about your travel & tourism entrepreneurial skills; related to your skills and potential to be an entrepreneur in the travel and tourism sector. It is about self-assessing yourself that requires you to critically examine your strengths and weaknesses as well as your opportunities and threats as an entrepreneur. Hint: Take a few minutes of your time and ponder whether you can be an entrepreneur and jot down certain points why you think you are or you could become a travel and tourism entrepreneur. Also, consider what skills you would need to be a successful entrepreneur. Related to Task 2: Task 2 is about entrepreneurial development and how one can start an enterprise and grow with the time to be successful, perhaps making into a large successful organisation. An entrepreneur needs certain managerial and professional skills along with certain personal skills in order respond to change and sustain the business. Hint: Identify and choose a few successful entrepreneurs and their businesses and analyse their methods of developing and managing businesses. You are urged to read biographies of a few entrepreneurs that might interest you. Related to Task 3: This task is about planning for starting up a business in the travel and tourism sector. The entrepreneur needs to have certain goals and objectives as well as the understanding of the market potential. Good understanding of the product or services to be offered and the profile of the customer whom you aim to target are also important. Also, you as an entrepreneur need to consider the financial requirement as well as the sources of funds along with the cost of doing business. Hint: You as a customer of travel and tourism, consider your needs and wants and identify if you could come up with a new idea or concept to start a business. Now screen your idea by discussing it with your friends and family members if they would like the idea. Avoid using cut and paste materials when writing and completing assignment. Recommended word limit is 3000 Department of Hospitality Page 3 of 6 The tasks in this coursework assignment are all based on the above scenario, and should be supported by relevant theories and concepts, where appropriate. Task 1: A) Discuss the entrepreneurial traits and skills required to be a successful travel and tourism entrepreneur. B) Using an appropriate format, produce a self-appraisal (self-assessment) of entrepreneurial traits (characteristics) and skills that you may possess and identify the strengths and weaknesses for development benchmark to be a successful. This requires you to do a skills audit and analysis of your strengths and weaknesses as well. You may rank each trait identified and the skills you possess on a 1 to 10 scale and provide a brief explanation on your judgment with some evidence.  To achieve M1, you will have applied effective approaches to study and research the various entrepreneurial traits and skills to be successful T&T entrepreneur (Task 1 A)  To achieve D1 you will have evaluated and arrived at conclusion on your strengths and weaknesses as well as your potential to be a successful entrepreneur critically using a range of measures. Task 2: A) Select a successful travel & tourism entrepreneur and analyse his or her business development strategy and the entrepreneurial process by evaluating the factors that could have led to the success of entrepreneur’s business organisation. (It is about analysis. Avoid using cut & paste materials on the entrepreneur’s biography)  To achieve M2, you will have identified and applied relevant theories or techniques to analyse the development strategy of the entrepreneurial enterprise (Task 2 A & B)  To achieve D2, you will have planned, managed, and organised a number of activities successfully in carrying out the class presentation on the evaluation of the factors that would have led to the success of the enterprise. Task 3: This task is about developing a business plan. You are required to develop a brief business plan that consists of the description of your niche travel and tourism business concept, product/service characteristics, market potential and business analysis, operational plan and financial projection and a brief cash-flow analysis. A) Evaluate and discuss the sources of finance and support available to you for the proposed project. B) Develop a business plan with a market assessment, business analysis and cash-flow analysis and justify the potential for success of the proposed Travel and Tourism business. C) Present a persuasive business plan for the Travel and Tourism start-up project. Department of Hospitality Page 4 of 6  To achieve M3, you should have used appropriate structure and approaches to develop and present the Business Plan for the proposed project.  To achieve D3, you must have critically evaluated the success of your proposed business project. Relevant Information To gain a Pass in a BTEC HND Unit, you must meet ALL the Pass criteria; to gain a Merit, you must meet ALL the Merit and Pass criteria; and to gain a Distinction, you must meet ALL the Distinction, Merit and Pass criteria 1. Outcomes of the Unit: Grading Criteria 1. Grading Criteria for Merit and Distinction of this coursework Merit (M1, M2, M3) Distinction (D1, D2, D3) Descriptors Indicative characteristics Descriptors Indicative characteristics M1: Identify and evaluate appropriate sources  an effective approach to study and research has been applied D: Use critical reflection to evaluate own work and justify valid conclusions  Conclusions have been arrived at through synthesis of ideas and have been justified M2: apply appropriate theory/techniques  Relevant theories and techniques have been applied D2: Take responsibility for managing and organising activities  Substantial activities, projects or investigations have been planned, managed and organised M3: Present and communicate appropriate findings  The appropriate structure and approach has been used D3: Demonstrate convergent/lateral /creative thinking  Critical self-evaluation has been carried out Learning outcomes Pass LO1 Understand skills and characteristics of a travel and tourism entrepreneur 1.1 discuss skills needed for successful entrepreneurship 1.2 produce a self-appraisal that identifies strengths and weaknesses and strategies for development benchmarked to successful entrepreneur LO2 Understand the development of enterprises in the travel and tourism sector 2.1 analyse the development of an entrepreneurial enterprise 2.2 evaluate factors that have led to the success of an enterprise LO3 Be able to prepare a business start-up plan for niche market within a travel and tourism context 3.1 evaluate sources of finance and support available to enterprises in the travel and tourism sector 3.2 develop and justify the potential for success of a concept for an enterprise in a travel and tourism context 3.3 present a persuasive business start-up plan Department of Hospitality Page 5 of 6 3. Preparation guidelines of the Coursework Document a. All coursework must be word processed. b. Document margins must not be more than 2.54 cm (1 inch) or less than 1.9cm (3/4 inch). c. Font size must be within the range of 10 point to 14 point including the headings and body text (preferred font size is 11). d. Standard and commonly used type face such as Arial should be used. e. All figures, graphs and tables must be numbered. f. Material taken from external sources must be properly refereed and cited within the text using Harvard standard g. Do not use Wikipedia as a reference. h. Word limit must be strictly followed. 4. Plagiarism and Collusion Any act of plagiarism or collusion will be seriously dealt with according to the College regulations. In this context the definition and scope of plagiarism and collusion are presented below: Plagiarism is presenting somebody else’s work as your own. It includes copying information directly from the Web or books without referencing the material; submitting joint coursework as an individual effort. Collusion is copying another student’s coursework; stealing coursework from another student and submitting it as your own work. Suspected plagiarism or collusion will be investigated and if found to have occurred will be dealt with according to the college procedure. (For details on Plagiarism & Collusion please see the student hand book) 5. Submission a. Initial submission of coursework to the tutors is compulsory in each unit of the course. b. Student must check their assignments on ICON VLE with plagiarism software Turnitin to make sure the similarity index for their assignment stays within the College approved level. A student can check the similarity index of their assignment three times in the Draft Assignment submission point located in the home page of the ICON VLE. c. All Final coursework must be submitted to the Final submission point into the unit (not to the Tutor). A student would be allowed to submit only once and that is the final submission. d. Any computer files generated such as program code (software), graphic files that form part of the coursework must be submitted as an attachment to the assignment with all documentation. e. Any portfolio for a unit must be submitted as a hardcopy to examination office. f. The student must attach a tutor’s comment in between the cover page and the answer in the case of Resubmission. 6. Good practice a. Make backup of your work in different media (hard disk, memory stick etc.) to avoid distress for loss or damage of your original copy. 7. Extension and Late Submission a. If you need an extension for a valid reason, you must request one using an Exceptional Extenuating Circumstances (EEC) form available from the College examination office and ICON VLE. Please note that the lecturers do not have the authority to extend the coursework deadlines and therefore do not ask them to award a coursework extension. The completed form Department of Hospitality Page 6 of 6 must be accompanied by evidence such as a medical certificate in the event of you being sick. b. Late submission will be accepted and marked according to the college procedure. It is noted that late submission may not be graded for Merit and Distinction. c. All Late coursework must be submitted to the Late submission point into the unit (not to the Tutor). A student would be allowed to submit only once and that is the final submission. 8. Submission deadlines: as shown above Submit to: Online to the ICON VLE only