How to Become a Part of Travel & Tourism Industry

In the last 5 to 10 years, travel and tourism industry has witnessed huge growth. And currently, the career prospects in this field have grown by leaps and bounds. Besides that, India is carrying the heritage of being one of the oldest civilization in the world, so, gradually it is becoming a favorite destination of many, mainly because of its mystique past and cultural diversity. The other important factor for this rising growth in the travel and tourism industry is the stable political environment and an English Speaking hospitable host for tourists.

Hence, surge in the growth has made a career in this field a lucrative option leading to emergence of several courses in Travel and Tourism.

Career options available in travel and tourism:

• Travel Agencies: A travel agency mainly facilitates travel and all other services for individuals traveling for vacations or business purposes. Besides that, they are supposed to provide information on destination, hotel ratings, the cheapest and the fastest mode of transport, visas, foreign exchange etc. Travel agencies can be roughly divided into four departments - the Accounts, Tours, Travel and Cargo.
• Tourism Department: In a tourism department of a travel agency, there’s a reservation and counter staff, sales and marketing staff, tour planners, tour guides, information assistants and officers in the Directorate and Department of tourism. All the officers for the Directorate and Department of tourism are chosen from the civil services and their main job is to promote and plan tourism.
• Hotels: Hospitality has a huge role to play in travel and tourism, as hotels provide travelers with all kinds of food and accommodation services. So, hotels also demand professionals in jobs related to front office, operations, house keeping, food and beverages, accounting, management and public relations. A course in hotel management can easily help you find a suitable job in some reputed hotel.
• Transport: Air, railways, road and sea are the categories in which transport industry is divided into. Here’s a brief look at the services offered by this industry:

Road transport: Coaches and tourist cars are supposed to provide scope for self employment in metros and towns all over India. All those drivers who command good conversation skills and have good knowledge of different languages are ideal for this job.

Airlines: This industry needs professionals for various kinds of jobs. Airlines hire smart and presentable professionals with a degree in hotel management or travel and tourism for ground staff. Besides that, they hire people as traffic assistants, reservation and counter staff, air hostess & flight pursuers, sales and marketing staff and people to provide customer services.

• Tour operators: Another kind of job in this field is that of tour operators. These individuals are mainly responsible for organizing tours and manage travel and stay of their clients. They are supposed to conduct tours to known tourist attractions and some of them help the tourists indulge in adventure sports like river rafting and rock climbing. For conduct this job, one must have a very pleasant personality, detailed knowledge concerning travel and language skills.
• Holiday consultants: This job is very interesting and attracts many youngsters. It is a comparatively new career option in the travel and tourism industry. A holiday consultant has to provide all the information to his / her clients. Besides that, they are also supposed to sell the holiday, plan the itinerary, make the travel plan, book the tickets and provide all the other details, which a customer requires.
• Banks: Even banks hire people in this field to help tourists and travelers on foreign exchange. For such a job, usually MBA professionals are preferred. Besides that, banks help in hotel and ticket bookings, for which professionals are required.

Personal Attributes required for being a part of this industry -
Though a strong education background really helps, some efficient personal attributes as well for becoming a part of this industry. You need to have a pleasing personality and detailed knowledge concerning traveling and tourist destinations. You also need to have excellent written and oral communication skills. Last but not the least, the ability and patience to help and provide hospitality is very important for all those who plan to join travel and tourism industry.

Colleges in India offering travel and tourism courses –

Kuoni Academy - Mumbai, Paradise Institute of Management Studies (PIMS), Indira Gandhi National Open University, Rai Foundation, India International Trade Center etc.