Career Prospects for people looking to work in the Travel Industry

If you are thinking about training in the world of travel to fuel your personal thirst for the road and the adventure it brings, there are plenty of opportunities for people with a vast array in background knowledge.

If you have always loved travel and the world of travel is for you, know that the cash demands are rather high, which is probably why you’re not travelling as much as you’d like. There are ways to make money as you travel, as well as other opportunities for professionals trained with various travel-related career paths.

The path you choose will however be up to you. Here are a few choices for careers:

1. Travel agencies and tour operations

Tour operators have the option of getting employment as customer sales executives assigned to various products within the market, or setting up their own travel agencies. You can also design your own products and market then to interest parties as a product designer. Within agencies, you can work under Itinerary management, foreign exchange, sales and marketing and planning departments.

There are also a few more unconventional opportunities to pursue if you set up your own travel agency or work within an existing agency, including:

• Passport and visa processing
• Participating in actual field tours as a Tour manager
• Operational management related to content and travel bookings
• Building liaisons with third-party merchants such as traders and service providers
• Exploring unvisited destinations and organizing tours following successful expeditions
• Travel consulting which involves advising clients regarding various travel destinations
• Agency front office management
• Agency human resource management
• Agency business development management
• Agency public relations and events management

2. Aviation

This also provides viable options for those who meet the demands and love to fly. You can get employment as a flight attendant, within the Booking and reservations departments in airlines, under sales and marketing, customer service, ground personnel and of course pilots.

3. Travel counseling

The travel counselor is at the forefront of operations, providing full guidance regarding various aspects of travel to clients. This ensures that they get the best value from group and individual bookings as relevant. Travel counselors can also provide destination guidance and liaison on matters like transport, accommodation, on-location itinerary, transportation and costs.

They also handle matters related to ticketing, accommodation reservation, foreign exchange, destination promotion, travel insurance arrangements and tour package marketing. Travel counselors typically cater for other leisure tourism or corporate tourism. They spend much of their time in ticketing, reservations and other client services.

4. Other avenues

These include:

• Becoming part of a tourism board to create awareness regarding various destinations.
• Seeking employment as part of a crew for cruise liners
• Destination events organization including incentives, meetings, conferences, exhibitions, fairs and other events (MICE)
• General event planning and management
• Adrenaline-packed adventure tourism – tour guides and operators, expedition management etc.
• Travel media and public relations specialists for various organizations
• Impartation of travel education and awareness

Author Bio

Jane Douglas works for a leading tour operator based in Paris, France. For more information and to get answers to other travel-related queries and concerns, visit https://www.musement.com.