Weave Magical Holidays as a Tour Operator!

Several surveys have proved that Vacations and Holidays are ultimate stress-busters. India with its expansive geographical and cultural diversity offers tourism opportunities that only a handful of countries can boast of. Heritage tourism, honeymoon destinations, adventure tourism opportunities, and cultural and pilgrimage destinations abound in India and offer you an exemplary opportunity to capitalize on your interest in travel and tourism to make career as a tour operator or travel agent.

What does a Tour Operator do?

Giants in tourism and hospitality industry such as Thomas Cook, SITA, Yatra.com and Makemytrip.com offer you an excellent network of all the travel services - in India and worldwide - at one place. They have tie-ups with leading hotels, transport service providers, agents who book your train and flight tickets, and tour guides and escorts in different regions who cater to their clients. Smaller travel agents may specialize in regional tourism or theme-based tourism activities such as adventure tours, MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, and Events) tours or pilgrimage tours.

Whether you want to join a job in one of the multi-national tour package providers or start your own venture, it is very important to find out your own particular interest area. Some people may like to weave magical holiday experiences for their clients - act like movie directors where their customers can come and enjoy every moment; while others might like it better to actually go and help their clients to scale mountains and glide in skies. There might be still others who take pride in displaying India's rich history and culture to foreigners who visit India while still others, who as connoisseurs of food, art and wine, can offer special and unique tourism options to people of varied tastes.

A tour operator is an expert in coming up with tour itineraries that include the destinations best suited to the purpose of your travel, within the time limit and budget specified by you.

How to Become a Tour Operator?

An excellent source of income and employment, tourism industry in India is growing by leaps and bounds. However, a tour operator has a 24-hour work schedule. S/he always has to be available for the clients - day and night and a regular job of 9 to 5 is an unheard-of thing in this sector. Memberships of industry associations, such as the Indian Association of Tour Operators (IATO) and the Association of Independent Tour Operators (AITO) - UK, add credibility to a tour operator.

Though, it is not necessary for you to be certified to become a travel agent, training courses for travel agents can help them to pick up skills like how to operate a computer reservation system for airlines and pick up knowledge about popular tourist destinations and vacation packages in the target region. Quick thinking and resourcefulness are two biggest assets of a tour operator. Whether you are into luxury tours, health and wellness tours, or travel insurance, domain knowledge plays a key factor in gaining clients.

Some of the well-known institutes in India that offer certificate, diploma, and degree programs in tour management and tour administration are:

• Indian Institute of Tourism & Travel Management (IITTM)
• Institute Of Management Studies
• Bird Academy
• Kuoni Academy
• Institute of Business Management & Technology
• Institute of Tourism Management (ITM)
• Garden City College Of Science and Management
• Trade Wings Institute of Management Ltd.
• International Institute of Aviation & Tourism Management (IIATM)
• TMI Academy of Travel, Tourism and Aviation Studies
• Amity Institute Of Travel & Tourism
• Faculty Of Commerce & Management, H.P.University
• Directorate Of Distance Education, Madurai Kamraj University
• Andhra University
• Kurukshetra University
• Bombay University
• Devi Ahilya University, Indore
• Centre for Tourism Studies, Pondicherry University

Share your opinions and ask queries on tourism here. We hope to spark some interesting discussions on career as a tour operator and education options available for it.

Source: Ruchi Shrimali (Shiksha Team)

Date: 19th April, 2011

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