CAREER OPPORTUNITY IN TOURISM SECTOR

If you look at the world scenario, few of the countries like Mauritius, Maldives, Singapore & Thailand survive on tourism. Major boost to economy is tourism. These countries work hard to develop tourism and today it is an integral part of their economy. Most of the developing countries are trying to develop tourism for their economic growth.  You may have noticed that our Prime Minster, Mr. Narendra Modi is also stressing on development of tourism & infrastructure. One of the measures he has taken to boost tourism is electronic visa on arrival for few of the countries like USA.

Today plenty of opportunities are available in tourism sector. It includes government tourism where one can become a representative for any state or country to promote the destination and this can be done from office or home as well. Airline career is also highly paid job where airport representatives, marketing or sales head or similar jobs are available. Cruises, tour operators, visa agency, hotel representative, agro tourism, corporate tourism, event management, all come under tourism career.

My focus of writing this article is to give you prospective on what opportunities are offered in tourism industry and how one can shape up career in this sector.  If you have passion about travel and a caring attitude, you can be successful in this industry. As a fresh graduates or IATA holder when you enter in this sector, you usually start off as counter sales executive or FIT (Free Individual Traveler). Sometimes you could also start your career as junior air sales or visa consultant. As is the usual trend in any industry, in tourism industry as well one must start from the bottom of the ladder, learn the functions one by one and slowly climb up the ladder.

To be successful either in counter sales or field sales, which is mainly needed for MICE i.e. Meetings, Incentives, Conference and Exhibitions, one needs to be passionate about selling, travel, product knowledge, good communication skills and convincing power.  You can learn all these on the job and can develop yourself. Initially salaries are low, but with knowledge, people can earn handsome amount with full incentives. If you are good at geography, chances are of greater success. Acquiring enough knowledge & working in sales, may help you start your own travel agency.

Visa executive can be a starting point of career for many students. Understanding requirements of different consulates, rules and regulations, different types of visa like student visa, business visa, work visa, tourist visa, diplomatic visa, etc., is a must. Proficiency in all these aspects can get you started with your own consulting visa firm as well. No one can travel abroad without a visa, so knowledge of visa documentation is the key aspect of travel career.

Another very interesting and creative job in tourism is product designing. As a product designer, you are required to custom make tour packages for your clients. Research for new destinations, keeping track of changing requirements of travelers and delivering the best suited product for groups or individuals is an interesting job. It sounds easy but it is not so, as it requires thorough product knowledge, geographical knowledge, visa formalities and almost all aspects of travel line.

Commercial and contracting is another high paying job in tourism sector. Having good negotiation skills, product knowledge, knowledge of places, itineraries, hotels, transporters are few of the aspects that could make you successful in this career. One must negotiate the rates with suppliers, hoteliers, cruise vendors, tourism boards, transporters etc. to make the best package for travelers. There is a good demand for these people as this is a specialized job.

Operation executive is another career path in tourism industry. If sale is done, packages are ready, then travel company needs someone to execute  and make sure that whatever  is promised to costumers is delivered and the operation executive makes sure that all hotels, transport and allied services are properly booked and re-confirmed.  Many people love the job of tour escort or tour manager. This is the only job in the world which will make you globe traveler without spending a single penny from your pocket. The basic qualifications for this job are communication skills, good personality, caring attitude and strong catastrophe managerial skills. I feel this is a very satisfying job as you will be blessed and rewarded by people for taking such good care of them.

All these are major functional jobs in Tourism industry.  In tourism sector, growth of individual is fast. You can climb up the ladder from executive to senior executive; assistant manager to manager; head of the department to regional head and finally as country head. Today, travel industry salary packages have improved from basic 15k -20k to more than 1 lakh per month and higher post are drawing even better pay.

With 8-10 years’ experience, you can start your own venture or specialized tours or travel agency. There are plenty of opportunities in agro tourism, adventure tourism, corporate tourism. Medical and wellness tourism is one of the most popular tourisms, especially among foreign tourists. Many foreign tourists visit India for Ayurveda treatment, for medical surgery, as cost of medical treatment is comparatively low in India. Today Tourism industry is the topmost developing industry. Those who wish to pursue career in tourism industry especially fresher’s, are sure to climb the ladder of success.

The article is provided by UEI Global Education - Rated as Best Hotel Management College in Pune.