The travel and tourism industry and its related sectors will surely rebound and sharply grow in leaps and bounds in the post COVID years. Therefore, a career in Travel and Tourism industry will be be highly exciting and adventurous and will even pay well

In India, the travel industry  generated USD 240 billions or 9.2% of India’s GDP and supported 4.5 crore jobs and the travel industry hopes to create 46 million job opportunities by 2025.

India offers a bright future and unlimited career opportunities for those who want to make a career in Travel and Toursim sector.

For instance, India’s medical tourism sector is estimated to be worth US$3 billion and projected to grow to US$7–8 billion by 2020.

Career options in travel and tourism:

There are endless career opportunities in the fast growing industry of travel. We have listed some of them below in 5 major types:

1) Travel Agency / Tour Operator 2) Airlines 3) Hotels & Resorts 4) Cruise Lines 5) Event Manager / MICE

Job Functions include

• Operations / Reservations
• Product / Contracting
• Sales / Business Development
• Marketing / PR
• Ticketing
• Tours / Holidays
• Domestic / Inbound / Outbound
• Events & MICE
• Admin / HR
• Visa
• Forex
• Accounts

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Cities like Mumbai, Delhi, Gurgaon, NOIDA (NCR region), Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Chennai, Kolkata, Pune, Chandigarh and Hyderabad offer the maximum scope for job opportunities. However, there are opportunities also available in cities like Guwahati, Kochi, Ludhiana, Surat, etc

Important features of the travel and tourism industry:

• Travel and tourism is the largest earner of foreign exchange world-wide. It employs millions of people directly or indirectly through associated service industries

• This industry includes everything from the government tourism departments and major multinational companies to the small scale private travel agents

• While working in this industry, one provides services to people who are traveling for business or holiday or both, thus catering to tour packages, pilgrim travel, adventure travel or casual sightseeing

• At every point of work in this field, employees need to interact personally with the customers and understand their needs while making them comfortable. This helps to be able to provide the best service in terms of travel options and arrangements

Perks and payment:

Firstly, salary is pretty good in the travel and tourism industry. Secondly, you get added perks such as free travel or discounted rates for yourself and family. Salaries are higher in foreign based airlines or travel agencies.

Usually, during peak season some travel companies offer added bonuses and commission.

Courses in travel and tourism:

Experience is the most important factor in this field and to start off. Do not worry as there are many colleges, universities and private institutes which offer various travel and tourism oriented courses.

You can choose from Bachelor’s or Master’s degrees, diplomas, certificates or distance learning courses in various sectors of travel and tourism.

We also recommend going for specialised courses on travel management, tourism management, tour operations or airline management, destination management, airline ticketing and travel administration.

Check out or recently launched e-Library at ITJ e-Learning, get knowledge on-line and on-demand

• You can join an undergraduate course right after completing class 12
• The Ministry of Tourism, Govt. of India approved post graduation programme MTA (Master in Tourism Administration) is a two-year full time programme. For instance, universities such as the Indian Institution of Tourism and Travel offer this degree
• A post graduate degree can be helpful in getting into Positions as managers or in administration need a post graduate degree
• Short term training programs are offered by many travel agencies and in most cases candidates are offered permanent jobs.
• You can also opt for vocational courses to get a B Voc degree or diploma

Required skill set:

Keeping in view the expected boom, the travel and tourism industry needs to focus on developing an efficient infrastructure and increase the intake of skilled personnel.

So the skills required could include knowledge of Computer reservation systems (CRS- Amadeus, Galileo, Sabre & Abacus). Air fares and ticketing skills. Language skills, Selling skills, experience of handling money & foreign currencies, Customer service. Travel agency management and  travel & tourism geography knowledge.

• Anyone working in the travel and tourism industry needs to ideally be armed with knowledge of the global culture and all aspects of travel business
• He/she will need to be completely aware of how to ensure customer satisfaction, while managing a large volume of business
• A strong knowledge in history, geography, art and architecture of India is preferred
• Destination & product knowledge can be gained by signing up for destination specialist courses or on platforms such as ITJ eLearning
• Employees in this industry have to be skilled, confident, well-groomed, should be able to handle people very well and possess good interpersonal skills
• It is preferable that employees know at least one foreign language apart from English
• A diploma in public relations or advertising would prove to be helpful in building a career
• Employees must also be ready to work long or odd hours
• Employees must be completely aware and up-to-date on all the rules and regulations concerning ticket booking or reservation, passports, visas, cargo and even fines where applicable, so that they can assist in getting paperwork and documentation done

In conclusion Promotion and employment aspects are bright in this field as of now because not many skilled employees are available. In addition, one can even plan to start their own business or start-up in travel and tourism by taking on additional employees and partners.