Travel fascinates all and when you think of travel you always think of experiencing different places,cultures, traditions, etc. To pursue their fascination many aspring travel enthusiats want to join the travel industry. In this article we will discus what are different types of jobs that travel industry offers and how you can prepare for a job in travel industry. In This article will also cover the pre requisites that you require to puruse a sucessful carrer in travel industry.
Now before we jump to how to prepare for a job interview in the travel industry we need to understand some background and statistics on travel industry. The travel industry Prior to the pandemic accounted for 1 in 4 of all new jobs created across the world (directly or indirectly), 10.6% of all jobs (334 million), and 10.4% of global GDP (US$9.2 trillion). Meanwhile, international visitor spending amounted to US$1.7 trillion in 2019 (6.8% of total exports, 27.4% of global services exports, however after Covid 19 The Travel & Tourism sector suffered a loss of almost US$4.5 trillion to reach US$4.7 trillion in 2020, with the contribution to GDP dropping by a staggering 49.1% compared to 2019; relative to a 3.7% GDP decline of the global economy in 2020. In 2020, 62 million jobs were lost, representing a drop of 18.5%, leaving just 272 million employed across the sector globally, compared to 334 million in 2019.
Considering these numbers we can safely say there would be a surge in the number of vaccancies in the travel industry once the world starts going back to normal. Below we will discuss who are major employers in travel industry and what are they looking for.
Airlines
Airlines are one of the biggest employers in travel industry and all Airlines together have formed an industry in itself. There are various jobs available in Airline industry at various levels, There are High profile jobs in the airline like pilots of a commerical flight and also mid level jobs like ground staff and reservation staff. Jobs in Airline industry are a plenty and for every job there is a different skill set required. Major airline have their inhouse training accademies which helps them to devlop and train employees. But getting a job with an airline can be dificult if you dont posses the right skill set. Here are a few courses that you can pursue if you are looking for jobs in the travel industry.
Carrer as a pilot for a commerical airliner – Becoming a pilot is the pinnacle for any travel aspirant and its a dream for many others to. However becoming a pilot requires lot of knolwedge, dedication and most importantly funding. Piltot training can be expensive and requires lot of dedication both mental and physical. Pilots require excellent scientefic and mathematical knowledge in order to purse their training and job. Pilots enjoy a lot of perks apart from high salaries (in later stages) and repute of flying a aircarft. We wont be going too much into pilot as a carrer as there is a plethora of information on the net on this topic. If you wish to pursue your carrer as a pliot you can visist below flying school website.
https://www.cae.com/civil-aviation/aviation-training/airline-pilot-training/
Cabin Crew – Cabin crew is one of the most glamourous jobs you can pursuse, Becoming a cabin crew requires a high school diploma, a lot of enthusiasm and for you to be physically presentable, courteous and helpful to fellow passengers. Carrer as a cabin crew can be rewarding but has its own advantages and disadvantages, Advantages being getting paid to travel the world for free and working for a airline. Disadvantages being the working hours and continious on the go life. Flights do not operate 9 to 5 hence working as a pilot or cabin crew can be quite tedious at times especially when you have to do it on continous basis. Besides this many airlines prefer physically attractive pursers as cabin crew and are often required to maintain their weight and be presentable at all times. To know more about carrer as a cabin you can visist below websites which offer courses on cabin crew.
https://www.iata.org/en/training/courses/airline-cabin-crew/talg51/en/
http://www.frankfinn.com/
ATC – ATC or Airline traffic controler is one of the most imporant positions in the airline industry. Air line traffic controlers help navigate air traffic at a airport by providing signals and communicating with the pilot. Pursuing a carrer as a airline traffic controler can be rewarding but there are lot of responsibilties since you would be assisting the pilot by correctly informing the pilot about when to land a commerical airline. To know more about this carrer you can visist below website.
https://www.nats.aero/careers/trainee-air-traffic-controllers/
Reservations and ticketing
Reservations and ticketing agents are required by airline at the airline counters at airport and at back offices and call centers. Reservations and ticketing agents help travellers to confirm their tickets. All airlines have a strong reservations and ticketing team which assists direct customers and indirect customers like travel agents. The basic requirement for a reservations and ticketing agent is a high school diploma with a certificate in travel and knowlege of a CRS or GDS is advantageous, Airline reservations and tickets are made and stored on a CRS or computer reservation systems , there are various computer reservations systems like Galileo, Amadues, Sabre, Worldspan, Appolo, etc. Various airlines use different Reservations systems however the basic working and fundamentals of the airline reservations systems remain the same. If you see yourself apt for this role we suggest you to go through our free courses on GDS Galileo and Amadeus. This will assist you greatly in your learning process.
https://www.iata.org/en/training/courses/travel-tourism-galileo/tttg06/en/
Ground Staff
Ground staff are employed by airline for various purposes for functioning of the airlines, they can also be termed as customer service representatives interacting with travelers at the airport. The basic requirement for ground staff is a high school diploma with some understanding of travel industry would be advantageous customer service trainings would be provided by most airlines upon selection, we reccomend you to go through our small course on air travel which will assist you in understanding the basics of air travel.
Ground Staff Responsibilities:
- Greeting and welcoming passengers, and responding to questions.
- Checking in baggage.
- Making reservations.
- Selling airline tickets.
- Stocking aircraft with refreshments.
- Cleaning aircraft after flights.
- Assisting disabled passengers and those with small children.
- Providing information to passengers.
Tour guides – Tour guides are people who help travelers to explore a city or a place in a city or a monumnet, Tour guides mostly work independently on their own and are paid by indiviuals or a company that employs them on contractual basis or on tour to tour basis. The qualification for this type of job varies greatly as some tour guides may be local tour guide specializing only a particular part of a city or a monument while some may be well travelled guides arranging tours for an entire reigon. Please note this role should not be confused with a tour manager which is entirely different role requiring different set of skills. Any person with some education and knowledge can become a tour guide who is well versed with the area or place of intrest. Please note nowadays tourism departments and governments globally license local people as tour guides which form a great source of income for them. Guiding travelers without a license is also a offence in some countries and strictly requires a licensed tour guide while travelling to a place.
Tour Managers – Tour Managers and Tour guide may sound synonomous however both these professions are completely different. Responsibility of a tour manager includes managing a group of people to a particular destination or a city or a country, a tour guide assists a tour manager in this purusit by guiding people on various monuments and places and sharing information and knowledge about local culture and places. Whereas responsibility of the tour manager is to ensure the tour runs smoothly without any issues and all people on the tour are taken care of.
Below we have highlighted some responsiblites of tour manager.
- Co-ordinating all travel arrangements with respect to flights, accommodation, meals & services, etc. as per the itinerary promised by your company
- Deal with critical issues such as over-booking by airlines, lost baggage by airlines, stolen passports, stolen travel documents
- Organising entry tickets to local sight-seeing attractions, and co-ordinating with service providers for local transport
- Complete all billing & payment formalities at with all partner vendors such as Hotel Partners, Meal & Service Partners etc.
- Respond to special requests such as details on buying local mobile phone SIM Card, impromptu arrangement of Cakes for Birthdays & Anniversary celebrations etc. made by the travelling group
- Crisis management during unfortunate events such as Medical Emergencies, Accidents etc.
- Take feedback from the travelling group and file a report with your company
Tour manages are mostly hired by tour companies like thomas cook, sotc,etc which offer group leisure tours for travelers. Nowadays many corporate groups arranging MICE travel also require tour managers for smooth functioning of a tour. For more information on this subject or if you wish to pursue your career in managing tours you can visit below websites, Below institues offer courses on tour managmenemt and help you with employment aswell.
https://col.thomascook.in/centreoflearning/certificate-world-tour-management.html
Independent Travel Vlogers – Internet has changed the world dramatically and travel has also benifited massively by rise of internet, Mediums like youtube, Facebook, Instagram and other social media platforms have generated a new form of carrer choice for avid travel aspirants “Travel Vlogging” . Travel vlogging is nothing but recording scenic videos of your travel and sharing your expreince with the world or social media. There is no exact educational qualification requirements for this role and most of the vloggers work independently as free lancers, however there are many media houses , Television boradcasters , tourism companies and tourism boards of various countries hiring vlogers to create scenic videos of a country or a region. The main responsibility of a vlogger is not just to create videos but to showcase their audience the cultural diversity and natural beauty of the region being explored. If you wish to purse a carrer in travel vlogging we suggest you take a short term course in how to shoot great videos, below are some of the institutes which offer courses in vlogging.
Free Vlogging courses –
Udemy https://www.udemy.com/course/vlogging…
Skillshare https://www.skillshare.com/classes/Ho…
Lynda https://www.lynda.com/Video-tutorials…
Travel agencies – Travel agencies are one of the primary sales venue for travel industry. Eventhough with the rise on online travel agencies majority of people still use a local travel agent for making their travel plans. Getting a job in a small local agencies does not require majore qualification, a high school diploma with knowledge of how to use a computer is sufficient to get a entry level job at a travel agency, having passion and knowledge about travel would be advantageous. One of the benefits of working with a small agency is you learn about all aspects of travel reservations be it airline reservations or visas or leisure travel. Unlike big travel companies and OTA’s small agencies have less departmentation and majority of the work has to be dealt by staff be it reservations or visas or accounting for that matter. If you do wish to start with your career in travel we reccomend you to go through our free courses on varrious topics which would get you accquatined with travel industry and would better prepare you for a job. Below are our reccomended courses that you should do.
Travel management companies – Travel management companies also known as TMC’s are big multinational travel agencies who handle or manage travel for multinantional companies. Working for a TMC requires a certain level of expertise and require atleast 1 year of experience or some sort of prior experience in travel industry. While working for a TMC you would be interacting with business travelers on daily basis who are well versed in travel themselves and require detail to attention as their travel is critical to business. Some of the major TMC’s today are American Express Global Travel, BCD, CWT (carlson wagonlit travel) , Expedia group, etc. A job a TMC ensures you a stable and rewarding carrer in travel industry. If you are already a established consultant or a newbie in travel industry who wants to learn a new gds you can start with one of our free courses.
OTA’s (Online Travel Agencies) – Online travel agencies or OTA’s are one of the fastest growing businesses in travel industry. Online travel agents primarily cater to the retail business of travel industry and of lately have started with business travel aswell. Getting a job in OTA requires a high school diploma with some knowledge of travel. Job at OTA’s are process oriented and trainings are provided for each department . The payscale at a OTA may be a bit less compared to working for a TMC but growth prospects are massive since they follow a structural method of progression and departmentation allows employees to progress quickly in a department. OTA’s segregate employees by various departments enabling efficiency, when you call a expedia or booking.com you may have realised they have a sperate person taking your call for chnages or a new reservation. If you want to pursue your carrer in a OTA like Expedia, booking.com or agoda.com we reccomend you to horne your customer service skills and up your travel IQ to get you a job easily at one of the OTA’s. We reccomend you below courses if you are entry level in travel industry.
We hope this article has given you options on purusing your carrer in travel and helps you in choosing what suits you the best. Altough there are many other jobs in travel industry but we cannot include all of them in this article, Do leave a comment if you have any questions on suggestion related to travel or choosing a career in travel.