Travel and Tourism Opportunities

No matter what course you pursue, one of the first questions that come to your mind is “what are the opportunities” in the field. However, unlike all other industries, the travel and tourism industry is the largest in the world. With the ever-growing nature of this field, the opportunities are aplenty. Whatever the sector of the industry, finding a job in the field is a cakewalk thanks to a large number of travel and tourism opportunities. 

Thanks to more and more people spending a large time and money on tourism, the travel and tourism industry have spread into almost every other industries in the world. Be it leisure, aviation, medical, educational, or even sports, travel and tourism plays a role directly or indirectly in these. As a result, choosing a career in travel and tourism is like choosing a jewel from a tank full of jewels. Every one of these is valuable and have unique characteristics. You have to choose the one that you like and suits you. 

Be it the private sector or public sector, in India, there is a huge requirement for skilled individuals in the field. Thanks to several government initiatives and policies, India is on the right path to fulfil its tourism potential. As a result, a career in travel and tourism industry is a much sought after job. Along with the direct areas, the most common indirect career options in travel and tourism are explained throughout the rest of this article.

As per the WTO, currently, about 1 in every 11 people in the world are working in the tourism Industry. And with over 9 per cent of the global GDP coming from tourism, the opportunities in this are massive. 

The above mentioned are only a few of the travel and tourism career opportunities in this industry. However, you can even find other options as per your area of interest. There is no lack of variety, as well as vacancies in this domain. Be it in India, or abroad, if you have the right passion and hard work, this field can be the best thing that can happen to you. The travel and tourism opportunities are aplenty, it is up to you to make the most out of it.

Travel Agency

A travel agency, as the name suggests, act as a mediator or agent between the service provider and the traveller. The service providers include airlines, hotels, tour providers, etc. Most of the people who plan a trip go through a travel agency first due to the ease of access. The primary motive of a travel agency is to provide a hassle-free experience to a traveller. It is their role to provide the customer with the best deals, as well as provide them with all the relevant knowledge required for their trip. 

Travel agencies are the most important of the private tourism sector. Along with inbound tourism, they also provide services for outbound tourism, domestic tourism, and so on. There are mainly two types of travel agencies, retail travel agency and wholesale travel agencies. The retailer sells the services and products directly to the customer on behalf of a product supplier and gets a commission. The wholesale agency sells tour packages and services to customers through other retailers. They purchase the individual components from other suppliers and convert them into packages or sell them as it is. Unlike tour operators. Travel agencies don't create packages on their own. They simply assemble and modify the packages given by the tour operators or consolidators to suit their customers. However, a travel agency can help you narrow down the packages based on your destination, budget, and other variables.

Some of the services offered by travel agencies include flight ticketing, accommodation, itinerary planning, travel insurance, currency services, as well as providing travel information. The following can be listed as some of the positions available at a travel agency - 

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

Jobs in this are usually paid well. With a starting salary around 8k to 10k for an entry level person, as the experience increases, one can expect a higher salary. Apart from this, people working in these may get discounted packages, flights, hotels, etc, and also commissions and other remunerations as per the company policy. It is worth noting that the pay scale in a career in travel agency depends on geography, size of the company, range of responsibilities, positions, and other factors. If helping people visit their dream destinations and have the best time of their lives is what you are looking for, this is a great opportunity to do that.

Tour Operators

These are organizations that simply combine the tour and travel part to provide customers with tour packages. They specialize in acquiring services from individual product or service suppliers and then collaborate these to create good tour packages, and then sell these directly to the customers, or to other middlemen such as a travel agency. 

The functions of tour operators mainly include trip planning, package creation, reservation and ticketing, travel management, etc. Even though it sounds similar to a travel agency, unlike travel agencies, tour operators create packages that are of their own. They directly are in contact with the suppliers such as airlines, hotel, etc. and buy services in the bulk form. As a result, they receive the products at a lower rate, allowing them to sell it for cheaper prices. Similar to travel agencies, there are inbound, outbound, domestic and ground tour operators. The tour operators take up a major part of the responsibilities of the tour and are therefore responsible for every detail of it. They also have to be skilled at selling their services to travel agencies, cruises, etc.

Some of the positions available at a tour operator are the following - 

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

Tourism Department

Government jobs are much sought after career in any professional field. Be it medical, educational, engineering, banks, etc, whatever the area of expertise, government jobs have their own perks that attract people. Government jobs in travel and tourism are also in extremely high demand. There are plenty of job opportunities in the tourism department, also known officially as the Ministry of Tourism. 

Present in both at the state level and national level in India, the tourism department takes care of all the tourism-related activities in the country. These include government initiatives, ticketing and reservation facilities, policy matters, planning, infrastructural development, publicity and marketing, and many more. Unlike other travel and tourism jobs, to get a career in the ministry of tourism, you will have to give exams such as the staff selection exam, as per the role you are applying for. Since it is a government job, the pay scale is great along with several perks. Some of the positions that come under this category are as follows - 

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

Hotel and Accommodation

Hotels or other forms of accommodation are a major part of any travel. Although the mode of study is different from tourism, hospitality and tourism go hand in hand. The jobs in these usually revolve around the functioning of the hotel. These can include food preparation, food sanitation, hotel management, human resources and so on. Hotel management involves the managerial section of the hotel such as staff, customer service, guest satisfaction, purchasing, etc.  Some higher star hotels even have separate financial staff. The positions that are present in this domain are - 

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

Road and Rail Transport

Transportation is literally the foundation of the travel and tourism industry. There are several modes of transportation that allows tourists to travel between places. The road and rail transport is something that is used for shorter travel. India has a large network of roads with national highways, state highways, district roads and so on, as well as one of the largest rail networks in the world.  As a result, almost every region in the country is accessible by roads or rails. This makes them all the more important in tourism.

The government has interstate and intercity coaches and buses running regularly, as well as numerous trains. There are even trains solely for the purpose of tourism such as the Deccan Odyssey, Palace on Wheels, etc. A career in the road transportation industry, although is mainly indirect, has a huge scope. These can even include car rentals, drivers, road transport manager, traffic manager, railway conductors, etc. 

Cruises

The mode of water transport for tourists is performed with the help of cruises. Cruises carry people from one point to another for the purpose of tourism. Apart from just being a means of transport, they also have several recreational facilities on the cruise. Being the largest of the luxury tourism, India has started major development plans in this sector. Currently, the only cruise tourism in the country is river tourism in Aleppey and the river Ganges, as well as domestic cruises between Mumbai-Goa, and a few other destinations.

With the large scale projects to increase the revenue from cruise tourism, numerous job opportunities are starting to open up. Since the onboard activities are of various types, every one of those will again require particular professionals. For example, a casino onboard will require staff specific to that, a spa will need professionals for it, and so on. Similarly, the other roles may include in the domains of hotel and restaurants, crewing, guest services, housekeeping, international operations, and so on.  Salary in this domain is significantly high. However, depending on several other factors such as the period of work, experience, type of cruise, etc, this can vary. 

Aviation

The aviation industry is the largest of the travel and tourism hierarchy. Focusing on travel by air, this domain has plenty of opportunities. Due to the faster travelling nature of these, along with flight tickets getting cheaper, it is the most preferred form of transport. With the increasing traffic in airports, there is a great requirement for trained professionals. From booking the tickets to the passenger boarding the flight, the aviation sector handles all the operations. Apart from the traditional air hostesses and stewards, the travel and tourism related jobs such as customer service, reservation and ticketing, cargo handling, terminal operations and management, ground staff, etc are in high demand. Another notable mention is the staff hired by particular airlines for their offices. People working in this sector are paid handsomely. And apart from this, they receive excellent incentives in various forms. 

Financial Sector

Establishments providing financial services such as foreign exchange, banks, and travel insurance require skilled personnel to do the tasks. Since a large number of people take part in international travel, there is a constant need to convert currency from one form to another. Also, travel insurance is a major part of an international journey. Banks, being the major location of these jobs are hiring a number of candidates. Some of the main positions of employment in this sector are as follows - 

• Travel insurance officer
• Travel insurance consultant
• Foreign exchange officer, etc

Entrepreneurship

A large number of people these days are fanatic about the idea of startups. If you have an innovative or unique idea, you can turn them in to help provide tourism-related services to tourists. There are numerous examples of successful travel and tourism entrepreneurship in the world. Some of them are booking apps for hotels, flights, and taxis. The amount of money you’d make in this depends totally on the success of your startup.