Loughborough College students have been named winners in a competition designed to boost young visitors to a town attraction.
After being challenged with pitching a business idea to encourage 14 – 18 year olds to visit Charnwood Museum, Travel and Tourism student Reem Oulad was awarded first prize, while fellow students Olivia Teeboon and Tammy Litherland took second and third.
“Our students came up with some outstanding ideas to pull in this age group, a target market the Museum struggles with,” said Zophie Horsted, Travel and Tourism Lead and Lecturer at Loughborough College – who judged the competition alongside Charnwood Museum Manager Cassie Costelow.
“Reem’s winning idea was to create a Maze App that people would download and use while in the museum.
“The app would provide visitors with additional information about the exhibits as well as fun games and challenges as they make their way around.
“There is also a competition element where teams can play against each other, which is perfect for school trips and groups visits. She also suggested putting together a package to include food and drink from the café.
“This idea not only met the brief of appealing to 14-18 year olds, but demonstrated Reem’s creativity and awareness of popular culture and how it could be used to engage young people.
“Olivia and Tammy also demonstrated a good understanding of that particular market and individually produced professional and well thought through ideas – with Olivia encouraging visitors to ‘like’ a Facebook page to receive free biscuits with their drinks, while in the museum.
“All 18 students who entered the competition performed well and I was very proud of them.”
Cassie Costelow added: “It’s been great to work with the Loughborough College students on this and gather their insight about the museum.
“We traditionally struggle to capture feedback from visitors within this age range using traditional methods so this has been an entertaining way of engaging with them.
“By working with Zophie on this and hosting a work experience placement we have been able to build relationships with local young people which will help us with planning future activities.”
Pictured: (left to right) Loughborough College Travel and Tourism competition winners Reem Oulad, Olivia Teeboon and Tammy Litherland