2010 press releases
Posted 10 February 2010
AIT Academic Elected to Board of European Tourism Association
John O’Hara has held the role of head of department since 1984 and in that time has overseen a significant expansion in the provision of programmes and the development of state-of-the-art facilities for hospitality education on the Athlone campus.
Mr O’Hara is a graduate of Athenry Hotel School, GMIT, Westminster College and Garnett College of Education in London. He spent six years working in the hotel industry commencing in Jury’s Hotel, Dublin; the Windermere Hydro Hotel in Cumbria; the Amsterdam Hilton Hotel and in the Halcyon Days Hotel in St Lucia, West Indies.
After qualifying as a lecturer in further and higher education, he lectured at South East London College, and Canterbury College of Technology in the UK, before returning to Ireland where he joined DIT. After a few years in DIT, he moved to Athlone in 1982 and was appointed to his present position two years later.
Mr O’Hara holds an MA in Management in Education as well as a Postgraduate Diploma in Hospitality and Tourism Studies and a Certificate in Education. He is a Fellow of the Irish Hospitality Institute and the Institute of Hospitality in the UK.
Married to Anne Ward, they have a family of two and live in Moyvannion, Kiltoom in Co Roscommon.
The AEHT is an international non-governmental organisation (NGO) enjoying consultative status with the Council of Europe. Its primary objective is to promote a European outlook among hotel and tourism schools by providing for closer communication between members; by encouraging exchanges of students and teachers; by creating closer links between schools and businesses; and by pooling teaching methods and materials, knowledge and skills.
The AEHT is run by an executive board comprised of one representative from each of the member countries; the membership elects a president and the vice-presidents. Since its foundation in 1988, the association has grown considerably, and now has a membership of around 430, with an AEHT national representative in 44 European countries.
