Get into tourism with full preparation!

I am a second-year student of tourism at the University of Delhi. I am also doing a computerised reservation system course from a private institute. How should I pursue my career in the tourism industry? Is a postgraduate qualification necessary in this field?
-Shivam

The courses you are doing will help you get into the expanding job market of travel agencies, airlines, travel websites, and hotels. Being a very wide field, the employment scope in this sector is very large and includes government tourism departments, immigration and customs services, tour operators, airline catering, guides, interpreters, tourism promotion and sales as well.

Job prospects are now the greatest with travel agencies and tour operators, and in self-employment, particularly if you can find a unique niche in the kind of service you provide to clients.

With the qualification and training you have received, it is best that you start by working with a travel agency or tour operator. Today, the players range from major international organisations with a workforce of thousands to the small private travel agent employing a few employees.

After a few years of experience, you may join a travel and tourism management programme to boost your career growth and help you not only in a management-related post with a travel organisation, but also provide you with the basic skills to start your business, handling all requirements of a client and gradually building up business, recruiting additional employees.

You may also think about learning a foreign language depending on which one seems familiar and easier to you. The knowledge of one or more foreign languages is a definite asset in this industry.

 

Author: Usha Albuequerque (HT Horizons)

Date: 28th April 2011