Tell us your story. How did Tenerife Job Training get started? 

The idea came from Mariví Gracia during the 2007 winter season, and just before her daughter Claudia was born in June the same year (and this is why it is very easy for Mariví to remember how old her company is…as old as her daughter!)  With more than 10 years of experience in the tourism industry, Mariví decided to become an entrepreneur on the basis of some clear requirements:

• The business has to be related to the tourism industry because this is what she loves to do.
• It has to be fun and enjoyable.
• It has to be a profitable business and let her be the owner of her time.

During her years a tourism student, she had a wonderful experience going abroad and she always thought that there was so much to do in helping students to have their first working experience. This is how she came up with the idea of TJT, with the extra benefit of offering a wonderful island such as Tenerife to make the experience something unique. With these premises and the help of a grant from the Canarian government for entrepreneur women, TJT was born in 2009. 

As with everything in life, the beginning was difficult, requiring a lot of research on the educational environment for Mariví (something she knew nothing about). This required long hours to familiarize herself with The Erasmus Programmes and everything Europe was doing to improve mobility and employment. The business that started in the kitchen of her home has now become a profitable and enjoyable reality. 

We are also very proud to announce that in October 2017, at the same time we celebrated our 10th anniversary, we received a prize and recognition from Adeje town hall, our municipality, called PREMIO GÁNIGO.

What makes Tenerife Job Training different?

We take personal care of students and clients. ‘Personal’ means a lot: treating every application individually, visiting each student once they arrive, dealing with all the paperwork /visas, and especially being there when personal issues make it difficult to be abroad and far away from their families and friends.

What is your favourite success story from your agency?  

We are working with the carnival designers of Tenerife Carnival. This is a very unique tradition in the island and one of the best carnivals in Europe.  For the last 7 years we have hosted students to help the designers to build amazing costumes of 4 meters high. The last day of the training all the costumes compete to be elected The Queen of Tenerife Carnival and the students get close to tears to see the amazing designs on the stage.

For us this is the most amazing experience we offer in the island, a mix of learning, tradition, culture and fun:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7DB1QBQ4nRI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67kePpFCcBA

We are really proud of it and every year is more and more amazing.

 What are your future plans?  

We are starting to offer more educational trips, because as an organisation we have got a lot of experience offering Study Visits for adult education and educational trips for schools from all over Europe. We are also starting to work with Au Pair possibilities in the island. There is also the local youth population in the island awaiting for us to start offering more options to travel abroad.

We are now planning to open an office in Zaragoza, mainland Spain, to keep working with youth mobility opportunities. This is a project that we are thinking to be ready in October 2018. There is a lot to do but we have the drive to see it through! 

Which trends do you see in educational and active youth travel?

Speaking from an insider’s perspective on the island, we at Tenerife Job Training are “fighting” to develop a new way of traveling to us here – traveling to learn, learning to travel. We are members of The Tourism Development Board of the island, as a means to creating The Educational Tourism in Tenerife. Youth traveling to Tenerife be more than visiting for the sun, the beach, the amazing weather and the spectacular scenery of a volcanic island.

We receive young visitors who want to learn Spanish or go the University, and we need to connect these visitors with the local culture and life for them to make the most of their visit and for Tenerife to acknowledge them as the future of the tourism industry on the island.

Which challenges do you see in educational and active youth travel?

We are still considered a very cheap client when we look into youth travel, and therefore tourism boards have not taken our educational travel industry into much consideration.  We need to stand out and show them that our clients are the future of the tourism industry.  We still have some work to do related to borders and visas for young travellers that are recurring issues.  

What support/safety is provided for young people joining your programmes?

Health, accidents and third part liability insurances.

 What was your motivation to join WYSE Travel Confederation? 

We would like to strengthen our cooperation with other companies related to delve into new business areas and improve the ones we already work with, like the Tenerife Carnival Training, which is something unique to offer.