Travel and Tourism Scope

Human beings’ lifelong affection for travel is a fire that will burn eternally. People, during their lifetime, save up money to visit their dream destinations on vacations. No matter the race, sex, location, travel and tourism is something everyone enjoys, and hence, making it the largest service sector in the world. Flights, ships, cars, trains, yoga, hospitals, hotels, etc, a vast majority of career sectors in the world is affected by travel and tourism directly or indirectly. As a result, the travel and tourism scope is something that is as vast as the oceans.

Travel and Tourism Industry

The term ‘travel and tourism’ is used to describe a group of industries and organization whose sole purpose is to help the travellers and tourists have their dream vacation. Individually, travel defines a movement from one point to another. Tourism, however, is used to define a journey to another place as well as accommodation for not more than 12 months. Since tourism and travel are branches of the same tree, we use the term ‘travel and tourism’ to describe the industry as a whole. Since India has been greatly developing in the sector of travel and tourism, the travel and tourism scope in India is quite broad. With modes of travel in the form of cruises, flights, cars, and even trains, as well as tourism industries in eco-tourism, medical tourism, wellness tourism, etc, there is a huge requirement for skilled professionals in this field. 

Opportunities in Travel and Tourism

With over 9 percent of the GDP coming from tourism, even the government has started initiatives to expand this industry. As a result, there are career opportunities in the public and private sector as well. A large percentage of the country has started showing interest in pursuing a career in this field thanks to the excellent travel and tourism scope and salary in India.

Doing a course in relevant field can set you up for a career in this field. Being one of the post-graduate degrees, the MBA in travel and tourism scope is greater than the graduate degree BBA in travel and tourism scope. However, for most cases, the travel and tourism course scope are pretty much even. Even though there are several domains in the industry, the following are the most common areas of opportunities - 

Travel Agency

A travel agency is simply an organization that acts as an intermediary or agent between the service supplier and the tourist. The suppliers can be airlines, hotels, tour providers, etc. It is the first point of contact for a traveller to plan a trip. Travel agencies focus on providing a hassle-free experience for their customers. Travel agencies provide customers with various packages and options to choose from. These packages, are usually created by a tour operator. Unlike tour operators, a travel agency has a wider range of destinations and provides the best deals and options. They mainly deal with - 

• Inbound tourism - tourists coming into India from other countries.
• Outbound tourism - people wanting to go out of the country to visit other countries.
• Domestic tourism - tourists who want to visit other parts of the same country. 

The major services offered by travel agencies include flight ticketing, booking accommodation, itinerary planning, travel insurance, foreign exchange, as well as providing key travel information. Some of the positions in this organization include - 

• Travel agent
• Travel consultants
• Travel insurance consultant
• Sales and reservation agents
• Visa executives
• Marketing staff etc

Tour Operators

These are the organizations that combine the tour and travel to provide customers with various tour packages. Usually, tour operators sell directly to customers, or to other travel agencies. Since they are in direct contact with the product suppliers, they acquire the products and services from them, and then create their own unique package and sell it at a mark-up price. The types of tour operators include - 

• Inbound - deal with packages for tourists visiting the home country. 
• Outbound - Providing packages for people visiting foreign countries.
• Domestic - Packages for the tourists visiting other parts within the country.
• Ground - Provides ground services such as accommodation, sightseeing, a guide to the tourists. 

The primary functions of a tour operator are to create packages. Along with this, they also provide ticketing and reservation, itinerary planning, and so on. Even though the functions are similar to a travel agency, they are both different. Travel agencies modify and sell the packages as per their customer’s requirement. Tour operators sell their own packages instead. Also, tour operators are only specialized for a specific number of destinations. 

Some of the job positions at a tour operator are as follows - 

• Itinerary Planner
• International travel consultant
• Travel product designer
• Tour manager
• Sales and marketing staff etc 

Tourism Department

The tourism department, also known as the Ministry of Tourism is a government organisation that governs over the tourism industry in the country. From policies and regulations to planning, publicity and marketing, as well as ticketing, they look after the tourism-related interests of the country. There are state-level ministries, as well as national level ministry. Apart from the higher officials and minister, the other roles in the tourism department includes- 

• Tour guides
• Public relations manager 
• Sales and marketing staff
• Reservation and counter staff, etc

Accommodation

Accommodation is a vital difference between the concepts of travel, and that of tourism. Specifically belonging under the hospitality industry, it is still a part of travel and tourism. Accommodation includes establishments such as hotels, motels, hostels, etc, and a career in this deals with the everyday functioning of the place. These can include kitchen-related activities, sanitation, hotel management, human resources, etc. The subdomain of hotel management deals with guest satisfaction, finances, customer service, etc. The career options in this include- 

• Kitchen staff
• Chefs
• Concierges
• Customer service staff
• Hotel manager
• Lobby manager
• Entertainment organisers, etc

Land Transportation

Even though a degree in travel and tourism is not mandatory for a job in this field, it is still one of the most important sectors. Land transports such as road and rail transportation are the cornerstone of the travel and tourism industry. Almost every tourist destination in the world is accessible by road or rails. As a result, it is one of the most common forms of travel. Even in India, there are several tourist trains such as the Palace on Wheels, Deccan Odyssey, as well as several coaches and buses for the sole purpose of tourism. Jobs in this domain can include working at car rentals, or as road transport manager, traffic manager, railway conductors, etc. 

Water Transportation

Cruises are the main mode of water transport for tourists. They are vessels that function as both a means of transportation, as well as entertainment. They usually contain onboard recreational facilities such as a spa, hotels, pools, casinos, etc. As it is the largest luxury tourism industry, the travel and tourism scope in this is just gonna keep increasing with the needs of the tourists.

Along with professionals for the functioning of the ships, cruises often need people in other aspects of the travel and tourism industry such as hotel and restaurant staff and managers, guest services, housekeeping, international operations, and so on. 

Aviation

Flights and other forms of air travel include the aviation industry. Being the largest tourist sector in the world, there are numerous opportunities in the domain. Their functions range from booking the tickets to the passenger reaching his destination. The aviation sector handles all the operations and has both in-flight staff and ground staff. The in-flight staff such as pilots and air hostesses have a different career path. The ground staff are the people who take care of the workings of an airport. You can follow a career in this by studying courses in specific branches of the travel and tourism industry.  The profiles can include customer service, reservation and ticketing, cargo handling, terminal operations and management, ground staff, etc. 

Banks

Organizations that provide financial services such as banks require skilled personnel for their tourism-related activities. Foreign exchange and travel insurances are a major part of banks that make them a part of this industry. As an individual pursuing a career in travel and tourism, you can expect to be employed as - 

• Travel insurance officer

• Travel insurance consultant
• Foreign exchange officer, etc

Entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurship is the latest trend among people today. With several innovative and novel ideas that have changed the world, we can see why it is such a massive domain. This even applies to the travel and tourism sector. A travel and tourism entrepreneurship simply refers to startups that are useful for tourists. Apart from this, you can even make a career out of blogging and freelance travel writing. 

Other Benefits of Travel and Tourism

The large travel and tourism scope and opportunities are just one of the best things about this industry. The other perks of choosing a career in this field include the following - 

Fast-growing

The functioning of this industry is heavily influenced by technological and transport advancements. As a result, it keeps growing every day. With new innovations, new forms of tourism are created. For example, the recent form of space tourism didn’t exist a few years back. However, with companies such as spacex, virgin galactic, this will soon become a major tourism sector. 

Travelling

Travelling, although not in every type of job, is still a relevant perk of working in the sector. This includes free travel as a part of the job, discounted travel, as well as opportunities in any part of the world. You may also be stationed at famous tourist destinations around the world. This also opens you up to the chance to enjoy different cultures, meet new people as well.  

Perks

The perks in this industry include the excellent pay scale, as well as other forms of remuneration such as commissions. bonuses, discounted packages, etc. Each of the domains has different perks according to the organization policy. 

Exciting Work

Unlike other regular jobs, the work in the travel and tourism industry is often fun and exciting. The creative nature of the job requires you to interact with people quite often. As a result, it is never monotonous or boring. Along with this, there are jobs in this field that are not 9-5, and the individual can choose their working hours. 

Portable Skills

The skills you develop through a career in this industry are often transferable. Meaning, you can use these in any aspect of your career, be it in the same industry, or not. Some of these include soft skills, problem-solving skills, communication skills, etc. Apart from this, you will acquire in-depth knowledge of the domains that can help you. 

Ethical Benefits

The whole purpose of this industry is to serve the customers. As a result, by working in this, you will be the reason a person gets his dream vacation. Working in this industry, regardless of the sector or position, gives you a sense of pride and satisfaction in being able to help someone. 

With almost every country starting off plans to develop their travel and tourism sector, the scope of this industry is only going to keep on rising. One of the main reasons for this is the large revenue from this. Couple this with the human’s all time need for leisure, it is safe to say that the future of this industry is as bright as the sun.