A career in travel and tourism is one of the most desirable career options for youngsters these days. This field is the world’s largest foreign exchange generator and spins billions of dollars each year. In India too, with the upcoming Commonwealth Games in 2010, the scope of tourism jobs has increased manifold. New hotels are coming up, the whole tourism industry is being spruced up and the government is taking appropriate steps to ensure comfort for all international visitors during the Games. With so much happening in the tourism industry, it is not surprising that the demand for professionals in this field is going through the roof. Since it is a service industry, manpower is the main asset in this industry.
In career tourism, there are jobs pertaining to many fields. So, it provides employment to millions of professionals directly and indirectly. This industry has a very huge scope and is growing at a very rapid pace generating tourism job for qualified and trained jobseekers. In the tourism one can look to get jobs in the government tourism departments, airlines, hotel industry, immigration and customs services, start your own travel agencies, become a tour operator, hotels and become a part of many associated service industries. These include airline catering or laundry services, tourist guides, interpreters, professionals in tourism promotion and sales etc. Thus, this industry has something to offer to everybody and can absorb people with diverse skill sets.
These small sectors work in collaboration though each is an important part of the main industry and each has its own special characteristics. One could look at a plethora of jobs at the airports. Apart from being pilots and air-hostesses, this industry has a lot of other jobs to offer. For instance, engineers can join it as aircraft maintenance engineers. Then, there is a lot of staff required at the back-end. The are front office executives, back-office operators and customer care executives. Then, there is other ground staff too. One could also get tourism jobs in the Customs Department. In this department, special officers supervise the checking all luggage for illegal goods or items that may be liable for customs duty. Then, there is responsibility for lost and found and unclaimed luggage too.
Other than this, young graduates can look to become tourist guides. These could be government approved and work with the tourism industry or work with private tour operators. One could also work independently as a tourist guide. The ideal candidates would have on interest in history and languages. In this job, one gets to meet many new people. Also, one should have good research skills and keep oneself updated with the history and geography of a particular place and should be able to give the tourists interesting insights into the place. Tour guides get good salaries.
One could also start one’ sown travel company or get a job in one. Tourism industry caters to people who are away from home for various reasons. It could be personal, for work, for a pilgrimage or for adventure. Employees in a travel company are required to take care of these people who are traveling away from home. These professionals should be updated on the latest current rules and regulations and documentation required to travel in nay country. Also, they should be able to guide the tourists in areas like cargo, ticketing and passport, visas etc. tourists generally need advice on the paperwork. A travel company should be able to handle all this. A travel company devises the best package deals including travel and stay for its clients. Also, they act as the single point contact for a tourist in any new city and guide the tourists on the local area and how to get about and the rail and road connections in and out of that city. Thus, there are jobs at various levels in travel companies. No specific educational qualifications are required but a person should be pleasing and convincing to talk to and helpful in nature. A normal graduate can also aspire to join a travel company.
Apart from this, there are ample jobs in the hotel industry as well. From, chefs, to front office staff to room-keeping to managerial and executive posts, there is no dearth of jobs in this industry too. One can join and grow tremendously in the tourism industry. It is about getting the right job at the right place. One learns a lot on the jobs and gains useful experience that will help one grow.
About the Author:
Geetika Jain writes on behalf of Naukri.com, a leading job portal for jobs in India which has job listing of hundred of jobs like career in travel and tourism. Naukri.com is a recruitment platform and provides services to the corporate world, placement agencies and job seekers resume development.etc in India like and overseas. It offers a bouquet of products like Resume Database Access, and Response Management tools and its services include Job Postings, and branding solutions on the site. With 2, 00,000 jobs live at any point; Naukri.com serviced over 32500 corporate clients in the past year.
