When I embarked on this journey, I noticed that student clubs faced challenges on their own and struggled to communicate effectively with sector professionals. I believed it would be more effective if we came together and organized an event. The Future of Tourism Platform was established during our first successful event on April 21, 2015 at Istanbul Ozyegin University, with the votes of all club presidents.
In the beginning, we had only 19 clubs within our organization, located across 10 cities in Turkey, Northern Cyprus, and 18 universities. We set the goal of bringing together tourism and gastronomy clubs and departments in Turkey, Europe, and Northern Cyprus and organizing non-profit events under the platform's roof at selected universities every year.
Creating an organization requires having a good team and receiving substantial support from your surroundings. In these 4 years, I've worked with so many important and valuable people that each holds a special place in my heart. If I attempted to write their names here, I wouldn't be able to fit them all. Gaining wonderful friendships and having the opportunity to meet, be together, and walk the path with people who will hold significant positions in the industry in the future has been an invaluable experience.
When creating an organization, there are many important factors to consider, the most crucial being the name and logo, as they represent you and reflect your purpose. After the Talking Future of Tourism event, while working on the name, we decided to transform our event name into the platform name to ensure continuity. Additionally, we grew fond of the name The Future of Tourism as it represented us, the youth. Initially, getting the logo approved and liked was always challenging. However, with the design perspective of one of our biggest supporters, Erhan Us, we quickly solved this issue. At that time, Turkey's promotional logo was the tulip. Of course, our logo needed to be different, and the most innovative design trend of that period was the polygonal logo. Erhan Us combined these ideas to create our logo. In our first logo, only our Turkish name was on the left side. When we planned to expand to Europe, we added the right leaf with our English name to complete the logo.
During my presidency, we had reached 20 events involving 40 tourism and gastronomy clubs, 2 department representatives from 19 cities and Northern Cyprus, and 36 universities. We organized five different event series: Talking Future of Tourism, Gastronometro Meetings, Future of Tourism Awards, Hilton Career Summit, and Presidents Camp. To further motivate the clubs, we initiated the Future of Tourism Club Awards project. Over three years, we published three newsletters aiming to voice the clubs' perspectives on the tourism sector.
Our Vision: To create a platform that brings together Tourism and Gastronomy clubs, providing academic and social benefits to tourism and gastronomy students in Turkey, Northern Cyprus, and Europe.
Our Mission: To set a precedent with the organized events, highlighting the importance we place on Tourism and Gastronomy clubs and students, aiming to be the leader in Turkey, Europe, and Northern Cyprus.
With the work we accomplished on the platform, we introduced five main principles to prove our uniqueness:
Together Even After Graduation
With our bylaw changes, we established the Advisory Board to maintain our connection with graduates. This board, bringing together graduates and honorary members under one roof, was led by Erhan Us with great dedication for two years.
Growing Together
We brought clubs together, making their voices heard and making them more visible in the industry. We planned club awards to encourage their growth. Before every event, we awarded prizes in categories like the most active club, the best event, and the best poster design based on surveys sent to all club members. This motivated them to be more active.
Non-Profit
As known, NGOs are non-profit organizations. Accordingly, we conducted all our activities without charging any fee to the participating students. Thanks to the support we received, we even covered accommodation and meal expenses for some events.
New Membership Model
Initially, our members consisted only of clubs. We expanded this by including department representatives, thus reaching universities without clubs. Later, we established an individual membership model. This way, we managed to bring together students who didn't have a club, were not active, or were not department representatives, as well as young industry professionals, under one roof.
Collaboration
One of the main reasons students wish to join NGOs is to network or find internship opportunities. With this in mind, we provided many students with internship opportunities through our partnerships. Additionally, we gave 24 students the chance to speak at tourism and gastronomy sessions during our events.
As I mentioned at the beginning, it would be wrong to expect or assume a graduate to understand clubs and the university environment. Therefore, in our first bylaw amendment, we included a clause requiring board members to hand over their duties after graduating, which I also adhered to. After graduating in 2019, I handed over the presidency of the Future of Tourism Platform, which I had led for 4 years, to Mustafa Güdek.
I wanted to share this adventure with you in detail because our work was not easy. Bringing together people who didn't know each other through Facebook messages in Istanbul and organizing 20 events in 4 years required significant effort and excitement.
During this journey, we witnessed the power of coming together and acting in unison. Overcoming challenges, organizing events, and adding value to many students and graduates became some of our platform's biggest achievements. We built bridges between student clubs, academics, and industry professionals. This helped students prepare for their professional lives and facilitated the emergence of new ideas that could shape the future of the tourism and gastronomy sectors.
The experiences gained through creating and developing the Future of Tourism Platform demonstrated the importance of working together and uniting around common goals. The platform did more than organize events; it provided real value to students and the industry, creating a sustainable development model in the fields of tourism and gastronomy.
This adventure required a great deal of effort and enthusiasm and proved that coming together with a common purpose could lead to significant achievements. It showed that collective action and cooperation could overcome any obstacle, leading to the successful establishment and growth of a platform that aimed to organize events and make a meaningful impact on the tourism and gastronomy sectors.
The Future of Tourism Platform continues to grow as a community that will continue to make a difference in the tourism and gastronomy fields, promoting sustainable development and providing valuable opportunities for students and professionals alike.
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