With exciting opportunities such as Translator, Adventure Sports Trainer, Naturalist etc on offer, Tourism as a career option is catching up with students in India. The tremendous growth of Tourism industry in the country in the past one and half decade, enthusiastic and energetic students are finding the career as most lucrative and joyful. The galore of opportunities in tourism, hospitality, airlines, medical tourism, Eco-tourism and adventure sports, graduates, post graduates and diploma holders of Tourism and Hospitality education are finding it easy to cash in on the growing opportunities. Following is the brief description of various careers associated with tourism and hospitality along with some reputed institutes across the country.
1) Tour Operators: The job of tour operator consist of creating a complete tour package for the client. The package may includes accommodation, travel plans, sight seeing etc. The career of tour operator starts at the position of executive trainee and may get a stipend of Rs. 6000 – 12000 per month depending on the educational qualification and communication skills.
2) Hospitality Sector: Tourism graduates can find lucrative opportunities with hospitality and hotel management sectors. The hospitality sector is a conglomeration of different integrated departments such as the front office, food and beverages, housekeeping, back office etc. Most crucial skill required to excel in this career is maintaining guest relationship. Students may think that the hospitality is nothing but jobs related to hotel management. But the candidates can now enter into various other sectors like BPOs and Airlines with attractive remuneration.
3) Adventure Sports: If you are a dashing and daring person, and like to go crazy with adventure activities like para-sailing, kayaking, rafting, mountaineering, skiing, sky diving, there are good opportunities opening up for you. Courses are available in almost all the adventure sports. After finishing the course that you like, you may settle as an independent instructor or can associate with a training institute as trainer. But starting your own adventure institute / company can yield better results.
4) Airlines: Sales and Air Ticketing are the most popular and demanding opportunities in this sector. Students may need to use relevant software for jobs in air ticketing and reservations. Guest Service Executive, Operator are other attractive options in the airlines field.
5) Medical Tourism and Eco-Tourism: Tourism is also offering lucrative opportunities for doctors, nurses, technicians, travel coordinators, translators etc in the form of medical tourism. The salaries in the sector are depend on qualifications and experience. Eco-Turism is more or less a part of Hotel Management. If you are more adventurous, you could enter into careers like naturalistand park guide. The average initial salary for a park guide would be around Rs. 10000 per month.
Some reputed institutes offering Tourism, Hospitality and Allied courses:
1. Amro Tourism Academy and College of Hotel Management, Nashik, Maharashtra.
2. Amity School of Hospitality, Noida, Uttar Pradesh
3. Christ College, Bangalore, Karnataka
4. College of Hospitality and Tourism, Faridabad
5. Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University, Delhi
6. Heritage Institute of Hotel and Tourism, Agra
7. Himalayan Mountaineering Institute, Darjeeling, West Bengal
8. Institute of Hotel Management, Catering Technology and Applied Nutrition, Mumbai
9. International Institute of Hotel Management, Delhi
10. National Institute of Watersports, Goa
11. National Institute of Mountaineering, Uttarakhand
12. Pusa Institute of Hotel Management, Catering Technology and Applied Nutrition, New Delhi.