World of Opportunities in Travel & Tourism Sector

A career in Travel and Tourism is a fascinating one giving employees the advantages of meeting hundreds of people from all over the world. It also gives the opportunities for a great deal of personal travel and a chance to see the world. It opens out myriad opportunities for employment across a number of sectors. The rapidly growing industry translates into rapid career growth for competent and ambitious individuals. Glamour and a good lifestyle go hand in hand with a career in this industry

Tourism (at Global Level)

The Tourism Industry is the world’s largest employer accounting for 9% of all jobs worldwide and almost 40% in some selected countries Tourism accounts for 8% of global GDP Tourism is world’s fastest growing industry – faster than IT! In Asia Pacific Region employment growth in this sector has been over 4.5%

Sectors of Tourism

Transport
Airlines, Railways, Motor Coaches, Taxis, Ferries, Cruises etc 
Hospitality
Hotels, Restaurants, Bars, Cruise Lines, Resorts, Camping grounds, Inns, Rest Houses, Serais, etc
Destination
Attractions – both natural and manmade, monuments, amusement parks, theme parks, museums, beaches, waterfalls, nature parks, mountains, coral islands, etc
Countries – their tourist friendliness, visa regime, security, accessibility, infrastructure.

India & Tourism

• Provides 6.4% of the GDP and 8% of total employment
• Inbound tourism growing at about 8% pa.

Outbound at about 10%. Domestic at over 10% Despite the Indian travel and tourism industry already being very large, it is growing very rapidly as India’s share in word tourism is still extremely small. The potential is enormous and scarcely a day passes without fresh tourism ventures being announced. Of late, governments, both at the state level and at the centre have also started laying a lot of stress on this industry.

Leading / Pioneering Indian Players in Tourism Sector within India:

Oberoi Hotels, Taj Hotels, Welcomhotels (ITC) Indian Railways – Palace on Wheels, Deccan Odyssey, etc Jet Airways, Kingfisher Airlines, Deccan Airlines Raj Travels / SOTC / Cox & Kings Meru Taxis, Travel House car rentals, Kerala Tourism, Rajasthan Tourism, Garhwal Vikas Nigam

Careers in Tourism

Transport Sector: Airlines, Railways, Coach Services, Car rentals Hospitality Sector: Hotel sales, banquet sales, reservations, Cruise lines Destination Sector: Tourism Boards, Travel BPOs, Travel & Tourism portals Common across Sectors: Tour operators, travel agents, destination managers, travel advisors, Conference and convention organisers, Incentive tour specialists, local handling agents, Ticketing and hotel sales agents, airline consolidators, travel desks at hotels

Skill Sets required for careers in Travel & Tourism

• Good communication skills
• Interpersonal skills
• A reasonable knowledge of Indian and world geography
• Service Orientation
• Working long hours / odd hours