Travel and Tourism

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Travel and Tourism Course Details

According to a report by the World Tourism Organisation, tourism provides direct employment to 19 million people world-wide and generates indirect employment for nearly 38 million people world over.

Further, the overall values-added employment in the tourism sector is estimated to be Rs. 80,000 crores. According to one estimate, every 10th professional in the world today is associated with the tourism sector and the travel and tourism indutry accounts for about 10 percent of the world's gross output.

ELIGIBILITY:
The basic eligibility criteria for admission into an institute are 10+2 in case of a institute are 10+2 in case of a Diploma certificate and a graduation in any stream from a recognised university/college in case of a Degree certificate. Moreover, the duration of the various diploma courses also varies from institute to institute. Then various courses of varying durations are available in different institutes spreas across the country. Similarly, the institutes and over the duration of the courses.

PROSPECTS:
The industry has immense possibilities of employment and growth. A Tour Manager acts as the 'magic eye' to the travellers and helps them in finalising the destinations they would like to visit. He/She starts his/her career as an information assistant with a government bureau or a private agency and helps the traveller in working out the itinerary, arranges the tickets, books the hotel, arranges visa (if one is travelling abroad) and provides with briefs on custom regulations at port of call. He/she acts as a friend and guide to the traveller.

One can find a job in the government sector in Directorates and Development Corporations, ITDC hotels, immigration and custom services. Students can also opt for transport and travel services in commercial sector. The institutional sector comprising mostly of hotels offers a goof career option in travel and tourism management. The Services sector also forms a major recruiting body where students can become interpreters, tourist guides, or they can even joint the sales and the publicity departments. Other avenues of work include national and international ticketing, railways, road transport, cargo companies, travel consultancy firms, travel agenices and so on.

REMUNERATION:
The starting salaries vary. In a government department one can get around Rs.6,500 per month but in a private organisation it is between Rs.7,000 Rs.8,000. However, with a higher degree like a Master's degree in Travel and Tourisn or an MBA the starting salary can be anything between Rs.12,000 - Rs. 20,000.

Taking the tourist to the same locations, rattling out the same facts and figures for years, doing mechanical jobs like ticketing and reservation can ultimately put you down with boredom. However, if you feel content when you see the tourists smiling, if you have a pleasant personality, enjoy interacting with people and are hard working, then this is definitely the field for you.

Various new specialised forms of tourism like eco-tourism, ethnotourism, health tourism, destination tourism, spiritual and religious tourism, adventure tourism and so on, give variety to the customers. And you, as a tourism professional, do also have much to look forward to.