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Morgan Manohan, customer sales manager at Hanmer Springs Thermal Pools & Spa, is one of three recipients of the Tourism Industry Aotearoa (TIA) funded scholarships ‘Women in Tourism Career Accelerator’ programme with Grow Tourism and Powrsuit.
The opportunity is not just a personal milestone for Morgan, it represents a step forward for women in the tourism industry.
Morgan says “I’m reflecting on how thankful I am for the opportunity through TIA to be able to give myself and another two candidates as well, not only a scholarship to do the course, but also they pulled this course together for women in tourism, which I think is a really big step forward for all of us. We’ve always been here as such, but it is a man’s world, and it’s really cool to see that changing.”
Highlighting some of those changes in the tourism sector over the last decade she says “Women coming into some really high-end roles. So to be able to develop personally and professionally through a scholarship as well, recognising those changes in women in tourism, I think it’s a huge, huge step for us all.”
As she enters this journey, Morgan is keen to enhance her leadership skills, not just for her own growth but to benefit her team of 20 staff members. “So for myself, I’m really excited to grow my own leadership skills and then turn that around to contribute to the tourism industry, but also bring that into my own day-to-day managing with my staff. So to be able to bring that through to them and help them develop their own careers, I am really hoping to get those sort of steps coming from this course.”
On a personal level, Morgan sees this as an opportunity to strengthen her connections within the tourism community. “I guess on a personal level, it is developing. So outside of my work job, I’ve grown up in tourism. So my parents have their own tourism business. So from day dot, I’ve always been in tourism. So I’ve not known any different. And I think tourism was always going to be a natural draw for me.”
She says “I can be quite a, not a closed-off person, but if I get home, you don’t switch off from the tourism world. And so just developing that side of me a bit more so I don’t do that.”
Looking ahead, Morgan is excited to “grow those connections and trade partnerships” she will make through the programme and acknowledges the impact this experience will have on her career trajectory. “So it’s really interesting with trade. With Covid, we did see quite a drop with our trade. So I think that’s turned around, come back, and I don’t think we realised how much trade was going to come back, and how quickly it was going to bounce back.”
“In the tourism world, as we say, we hit the ground running, so to be able to stop, take a breath and focus on different points and dive a bit deeper, that’s where I want to be with my growth in trade.”
