Overview
In today's economy, customers are more skittish than ever when it comes to spending money. There is a lot of competition over restaurants, destinations, lodging and today's consumer is well-researched before making a purchasing decision. Therefore you and your business need every competitive advantage to help consumers make sound purchase decisions.
There are many kinds of tourism certification. Some professionals may be content to answer 10 easy multiple choice questions to become a "destination specialist". Not only is that insufficient, but it is also misleading to potential customers. Our Certified Culinary Travel Professional (CCTP) program is comprehensive with 4 course modules and a final paper or test (your choice). Your certification gives a high level of credibility to your sales and marketing efforts. It means you are a trusted and verifiable expert in the culinary tourism industry.
The certification process is straight-forward. First, you read the handbook. Then you view 4 training modules online and take notes in the workbooks. Finally, you take take a final examination OR write a research paper. After registration, you will receive access to our online e-learning system. We use examples from around the world and are not U.S.-centric. If you prefer to write your final paper in a language other than English, you may do so. If it is not a language that one of our staff members speak, then you will need to find a university professor locally who will agree to read and grade your paper for you.
You will be able to complete the modules at your leisure, but must complete the program within 90 days. While the overwhelming majority of our students find this time sufficient, extensions can be granted in extenuating circumstances.
Course Materials
Each student is assigned a faculty advisor to help him or her through the program. Your faculty advisor welcomes you to the program, answers questions you have while taking the courses, and provides guidance as you write your paper or after you've completed your final exam.
Students receive a copy of the e- book "Culinary Tourism: The Hidden Harvest" written by Association President Erik Wolf and a PDF workbook for each of the modules below:
MODULE 1: Culinary Tourism: The Hidden Harvest
The basic foundation of the culinary tourism industry: its history, definitions, examples, demographics and psychographics, economic impact, etc. By the end of this module, you will understand the difference between culinary tourism and agritourism, how gourmet tourism is different from culinary tourism, who culinary travelers are, and the benefits of culinary tourism to your business model.
MODULE 2: Baking Your Cake: Best Practices in Culinary Tourism Product Development
With the essentials in place, we now turn our attention to ways to develop a culinary travel product. We look at each of the 13 major culinary travel business industries and use relevant examples of each to illustrate best practices in product development. The knowledge you learn here will help you create a sustainable culinary tourism product.
MODULE 3: Selling Your Cake: Best Practices in Culinary Tourism Promotion
With a sustainable product in place, now you need to know how to promote it. Promoting a culinary destination, inn, kitchen gadget store, or similar culinary business is very different from selling widgets. So how do you speak to your customers' emotions about food and drink? We give you some clever ideas.
MODULE 4: The Icing on the Cake: Building Your Culinary Tourism Community
With a strong foundation now in what culinary tourism is, how to develop a culinary travel product and how to promote it, we now turn our attention to putting together your toolbox to help you succeed. This includes creating your own industry network and community, and finishes with an overview of upcoming trends to watch.
YOUR ASSIGNMENT: final exam OR research paper
You may choose to take a final exam, or you may choose to write a research paper of 30-50 pages. Your faculty advisor will work with you on whichever option you choose.
Note that modules are updated regularly to ensure that content, trends, and examples are all fresh and relevant.
Benefits
The benefits of the CCTP program are many and include:
AFTER THE COURSE:
-
Use the "CCTP" designation after your name, much
like how doctors use "MD/PhD" or how engineers sometimes use "Ing.". In our industry, it is similar to how a Certified Travel Consultant would use "CTC" after his or her name. - Receive a CCTP graduate logo to use in your own marketing.
- Certificate showing your completion in the course.
- We announce your graduation as a Certified Culinary Travel Professional in our online news column (RSS feed). We also encourage students to send a press release about their new status to relevant media. We have a press release template that can be used for this purpose.
DURING THE COURSE:
- Thorough instruction. In order to be considered an expert on culinary travel, you need to know what you're talking about. The program provides examples and training in sufficient details so that you will be able to be regarded in a leader in your field.
- One-on-one instruction with your personal faculty advisor. You will never need to work in a large group of other students. This allows your faculty advisor to meet YOUR specific needs.
- Each module is straightforward and easy to understand. Modules are in MP4 video format and play right in your browser.
- Training modules use examples from around the world and do not focus solely on the U.S.
- Have a busy schedule? You will have 3 months to complete the program.
Customization
The CCTP course as-is is designed to appeal to the largest number of people from different industries and countries. Still, that may not be good enough for your needs.
The CCTP course can be customized to the needs of your particular business, group or destination. For example, if you work for a hotel company, the content can be tailored so that the content is presented from the perspective of the lodging industry. Similarly, if you are focused on a specific geographic area, the content can be presented with that area's needs in mind.
Typically customizations are done for group training. Contact us if you would like to discuss CCTP course customization for your group today.