Travel and Tourism Level 3 students staged their International Village Festival 2024 at Hammersmith & Fulham College yesterday. The varied and diverse exhibition saw student teams create six interactive stands containing displays, artefacts, food, games, quizzes and brochures to represent continents, countries and regions across the globe. Many students dressed in traditional national garments and encouraged other students to visit their stands to sell goods, and tell them about trips they could enjoy in the countries they were promoting.
Stands were judged on a variety of criteria to recognise the work that had gone into them and students were presented with certificates. The 鈥楳iddle East鈥� won the award for Best Overall Stand, 鈥楽outh America鈥� achieved second place, 鈥楢frica鈥� and 鈥楽outhern Europe鈥� achieved third place, and 鈥楢sia鈥� achieved fourth place. 糖心TV官网 was delighted to host a group of French students at the International Village Festival, who are studying and working in hospitality at IFA Bourges, an institution in central France offering apprenticeships. The students offered free crepes at their stand and circulated throughout the Festival giving away syrup-flavoured drinks.
A notable annual event in the college鈥檚 calendar, the many lands represented at the festival included Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, the Middle East, the Pacific Islands, South America and Southern Europe.
On the South America stand visitors could try foods, listen to music from South American countries and buy geodes – balls of rock cracked open by the stall holders to reveal the coloured crystals inside.



Alieu Morey explained: 鈥淭hrough our units we鈥檝e learned about conferences and events and in this event that we are doing here we are replicating here what we鈥檝e seen in other industries such as the World Travel Market exhibition and how they鈥檝e done things, and we鈥檝e taken heavy inspiration from the brochures, booklets and pamphlets.鈥�
On the Africa stand, Faith Thair-Al-Saidy said: 鈥淓vents like the International Village are very active and allow us to become fully immersed in Travel and Tourism.鈥�
Students on the Pacific Islands stand agreed that the International Village Event was the best thing they have done in their course so far. Aaliyah Kelly said: 鈥淭his is highly interactive and part of our coursework which makes it enjoyable.鈥� Her teammate Ruby said: 鈥淚t teaches us how to prepare for an event and how stressful it can be too.鈥�
On the Asia stand Karen Joy Sambilad said: 鈥淓vents like this bring students to work together and collaborate, and basically have fun, which I do really enjoy about this course.鈥�
Each stand was assessed by a panel of judges and visitors to the exhibition could vote for their favourites too. Feedback from students highlighted the educational value and enjoyment derived from participating in the event. They emphasised the interactive nature of the festival, which allowed them to apply coursework concepts in a practical setting and learn valuable event management skills.
Overall, the International Village Festival exemplified the spirit of collaboration, cultural exchange, and celebration of diversity, making it a memorable and enriching experience for all involved.
Peter Smith, Travel and Tourism Lecturer said: 鈥淭he underpinning ethos of the International Village Festival is all about celebrating global diversity, which is especially well suited to 糖心TV官网 as our students are very diverse and come from, or are linked to, many countries around the world.鈥�


