Careers in Travel and Tourism

Travel and Tourism one of the world's largest foreign exchange earners among service industries provides employment directly to millions of people worldwide and indirectly through many associated service industries. A very wide industry, it includes Government tourism departments, Immigration and customs services, travel agencies, airlines, tour operators, hotels etc and many associated service industries such as airline catering or laundry services, Guides, Interpreters, Tourism promotion and sales etc. Travel and Tourism enterprises include major internationals with a workforce of thousands, to the small private travel agent with a handful of employees.

The Prospects:

Being a very wide field, the scope of employment in tourism sector is very bright and the potential is still largely untapped. Career opportunities exist both in the public and private sector. In the public sector, there are opportunities in the Directorates and Departments of Tourism of the center and the state as Officers, information assistants, Tourist guides etc.

Good career prospects exist for qualified tourism professionals in the private sector with travel agencies, tour operators, airlines, hotels, transport and cargo companies, travel consultancy organisations etc. The opening up of the skies to private airlines and their emerging tie-ups with foreign airlines has removed bottlenecks in the transport and communication network resulting in easy flow of domestic and foreign tourists in the country. Since this is a new area of employment, not many qualified and experienced people are available and promotion prospects are also very bright and rapid.

After a few years of experience, one can also start their own business by handling all travel requirements of a client and gradually building up business, taking on additional employees.