Career Viewpoint: Opportunities and Skills in the Travel and Tourism Industry

This report discusses the job opportunities and essential skills required for a successful career in the travel and tourism industry. It provides an overview of the industry, changing trends, and the skills needed for various job roles. The report also includes a survey of professionals in the industry and evaluates a job advertisement for a tour assistant manager position.

Career Viewpoint

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................4
ANALYSIS AND APPLICATION.................................................................................................4
Industry overview........................................................................................................................4
Changing trends in Travel and Tourism industry........................................................................4
Essential skills.............................................................................................................................5
EVALUATION...............................................................................................................................7
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................8
APPENDIX-1..................................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
Thinking about starting a career is a very big thing. One is required to be sure about the
domain where they want to build their career. This report is prepared in order to demonstrate the
key knowledge and skills required by a recent college graduate for getting employment. This
report presents job opportunity available to fresh graduates. I have taken travel and tourism
industry where I want to make my career.
ANALYSIS AND APPLICATION
Industry overview
The tourism industry in UK is one of the largest and most valuable industry which has
shown the ability to attract more and more visitors. As per the research, the overall flight
bookings in UK is expected to grow up to 5% as compared to the previous year. The tourism in
UK is worth £127 billion which is boosting its economic growth (Rita, Brochado and Dimova,
2019). This industry is also the major job creator and provider. In 2018, the number of visitors in
UK were 37.9 million. It is expected that inbound tourism is expected to grow at the from £21
billion in the year 2013 to £57 billion in 2025. The travel and tourism industry accounts for 7.2%
of UK GDP.
The travel and tourism graduate have a varied career path depending upon the area of
interest. Bar, restaurant, hotel chains can recruit them for formal training programmes of
minimum 6 months which can help gaining experience in varied areas of business. Even large
tour companies also provide jobs to fresh graduates but competition is very tough to get in there.
On the other hand, small companies can hire and provide training on the job and can also offer to
take certificate of Association of British travel Agents (Prebensen, Chen and Uysal, 2018). The
starting salary that is being offered for the fresh graduates with no prior work experience is
within the range of £15000 to £20000 which increases with experience. In terms of working
hours, people are required to work off hours as well and even on the weekends.
Changing trends in Travel and Tourism industry
The key trends that can be expected that can affect the travel and tourism industry in UK
are stated below.
Holiday taking intent: Despite the political uncertainty in UK because of Brexit, the
holiday takers in UK doesn’t seem to be affected. It is estimated that 70% planning for oversea

travelling during the year 2020., out of which 57% are planning a trip to EU. There has been a
trend of increase in motivation to get value for money which is the major factor in determining
the holiday spot. Also, there is an expectation that in 2020, there will be continuation of tourist
looking for varied experiences.
Slow travel: This trend has emerged in 2019, which will have growing impact in the
coming years. In this, tourists are looking to spend more time for experiencing the place at a
more laid-back pace (Glover, O'Reilly, Bratton and Periskic, 2016). In slow travel, travellers
visits the very fewer sites and goes off to a place which scarcely known. This travel trend has
proved beneficial with respect to the environmental issues like climate change. The number of
destinations visited will be lower in number will lead to lower travellers carbon footprint.
Personalized tours: In the travel and tourism industry, the concept of personalization has
been introduced with the main purpose of creating the enjoyable travel experience. Travel
companies have identified the benefits that personalization can bring to their customers
(TRAVEL AND TOURISM TRENDS IN 2020. 2020). For example, TripAdvisor is using
personalization for a long time and are offering recommendations with respect to flights,
accommodation, restaurants etc. This trend has encouraged the people to make more frequent
travel plans in order to enhance their experience.
Environmental tourism: The millions of travellers are more conscious towards
environment. Both travellers and companies are well aware of the environmental impact
travelling has. This trend has shown an increase in urgency and prominence in 2020 and beyond
it (5 trends that will affect UK outbound travel in 2020. 2020). People have started thinking
about it before planning a trip. The major contributor to carbon emission in travel sector is air
travel and so travellers are looking for other alternatives of transport for reaching their
destination.
Essential skills
The key skills required for successfully getting a good job in the travel and tourism
Industry are stated.
Personal skills
It is also known as soft skills and people with strong personal skills tends to communicate
their ideas and opinions very clearly and also is a very good listener and works with positive
attitude. Key personal skills required in travel and tourism industry are given below.

Problem solving skills: This is steel is required in every type of job in any industry.
Employees mainly considered those employees who have a strong problem-solving skill and can
take decisions keeping aside the emotions. Search people gather as much information as possible
and use their innovative thinking to find the best solution to the problem.
Self-Motivated: Employer usually look for those employees who are self-motivated
positive and passionate about their work (McDaniel and et.al., 2018). As such employees put
more effort and learn from their mistakes. Such employees make the working environment more
pleasant.
Flexibility and dependability: Employees are required to be flexible enough and are
always dependable. Employees hire candidates who demonstrate responsibility and
trustworthiness (Travel and Tourism Graduate Career Profile. 2020). Also, flexible employees
can adapt to the changes without any resistance and take initiative out of the scope and make
changes to the schedule if necessary. Such employees are always ready to help their colleagues
with the task even if the employee is unfamiliar with the work.
Interpersonal skills: This skill is related to how the communication and interaction is
done. In this Industry, effective communication is very important and employers look for those
candidates who are compatible with the other colleagues and customers. This is skill is very
essential in terms of collaboration and also those individuals who possess this skill can achieve
success more easily and quickly. Being good listener is also an essential component of being
good and strong communicator. Employees look for those candidates who can share their own
views and ideas and also listens to others.
Times management: Employers looks for the candidate having good time management
skill as they are required to handle number of clients at a time because of which staff is required
to have this skill to work efficiently.
Knowledge and expertise
These skills required for job in travel and tourism industry and are mostly the hard skills.
A detailed description is given below.
Creativity and innovation skills: In this employee are having a creative mind and full of
innovative idea which helps in attracting more customers in terms of personalized offers and
discounts (Wakelin-Theron, Ukpere and Spowart, 2018). This skill is important in travel and
tourism industry.

Computer skills: In this, employees are required to have the basic knowledge of using the
computer as many companies required employees applying for the job which requires using
technology. The most widely used computer applications are Microsoft Office, pivot table and
social media.
Also, a survey has been conducted of 25 persons who are or had worked in travel and
tourism industry. Based on the survey a lot of information was gathered like the key
opportunities available and what are the learning from it. The qualification required for entering
the industry is mostly graduates in the field of business, humanities, language and media and
communication. One can get job in different areas such as air cabin crew, hotel manager, tour
manager, tourist information center manager, holiday representative, travel agency manager. The
survey helped in identifying the skills required or preferred leadership, problem solving, IT
skills, interpersonal skills, creative and innovation skills.
EVALUATION
I recently seen a job advertisement for the post of tour assistant manager for which I have
applied. I found this job very interesting because the skills required for it I already possess and
further using it there will help in sharpening my skills. My responsibility will be to ensure that all
the travel arrangements are made and providing support to the holidaymakers. Also, it will help
me gathering in-depth knowledge about the field. It may give me any opportunity to learn new
language for handling overseas tours. I always wanted to make a career in the field where I can
get more interaction with the customers. I will definitely be going to prefer this job role to my
friends and knowns as it will help in gaining insight about how to carry out the planning process,
organize the tours, coming up with special holiday packages. Also, it will also change the way
and appearance of me as tour assistant manager is required to smart and behave exemplary. This
industry is growing at a very fast rate and is having a far better job opportunities from the point
of view of fresh graduates.
CONCLUSION
It can be concluded from the above that for making a career it is very essential to research
about the industry and the job opportunities available. Also, identifying the key skills required
for getting job in travel and tourism industry is very essential. It is not that easy but with patience
it will more value to life, learnings and career.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Glover, P., O'Reilly, A., Bratton, H. and Periskic, A., 2016. The status of women in the UK
travel & tourism industry: an evaluation of the cruise and tour operator sectors.
McDaniel, K. and et.al., 2018. Personal skills and competences. Hepatology. pp.14-079.
Prebensen, N. K., Chen, J. S. and Uysal, M. eds., 2018. Creating experience value in tourism.
Cabi.
Rita, P., Brochado, A. and Dimova, L., 2019. Millennials’ travel motivations and desired
activities within destinations: A comparative study of the US and the UK. Current
Issues in Tourism. 22(16). pp.2034-2050.
Wakelin-Theron, N., Ukpere, W. I. and Spowart, J., 2018. Perception of tourism graduates and
the tourism industry on the important knowledge and skills required in the tourism
industry. African Journal of Hospitality, Tourism and Leisure. 7 (4).
Online
5 trends that will affect UK outbound travel in 2020. 2020. [Online]. Available Through:<
https://digitalvisitor.com/5-trends-that-will-affect-uk-outbound-travel-in-2020/>.
Travel and Tourism Graduate Career Profile. 2020. [Online]. Available Through:<
https://www.grb.uk.com/industries/travel-tourism-graduate-career>.
TRAVEL AND TOURISM TRENDS IN 2020. 2020. [Online]. Available Through:<
https://www.adido-digital.co.uk/blog/travel-trends-2020/>.

APPENDIX-1
Vacancy announcement
A well reputed Tour operator company is currently looking for passionate and creative
candidate for the position of Tour Manager for its expansion plan.
Job Description
 To help customers with passport and immigration issues
 To write reports and maintain records
 Making hotel and flight arrangements as per the customer’s requirement.
 Responding to customers queries
Skills required
 Effective leadership and communication skills
 Self-motivated
 Time management
 IT skills
 Creative and innovative skills.
Qualification
 Graduation in the field of business, humanities, tourism or management
 Freshers
Salary
 Within the range of £15,000 and £20,000.
Interested candidates can apply through the company’s official website.
APPLY NOW!