Career Viewpoint: Trends and Skills in Travel and Tourism Industry

This report discusses the latest trends likely to set a major impact on the travel and tourism industry, including safety and hygiene, contactless payments, mobile bookings, virtual reality, and more. It also covers the essential skills and knowledge required for effective communication, time management, problem-solving, and team working. The report evaluates the job role of a hotel manager and provides insights from primary research.

Career Viewpoint

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................2
Analysis and Application.................................................................................................................2
Trends likely to set major impact on chosen profession or industry...........................................2
Evaluation........................................................................................................................................5
REFERNCES:..................................................................................................................................6
Books and Journals:.....................................................................................................................6
Online-.............................................................................................................................................6
Appendix-........................................................................................................................................7

INTRODUCTION
There is a high scope of professionalism in travel and tourism industry because this is the fastest
growing industry in UK. Hence, there is a good opportunity for new jobs in this industry
(Sofronov, 2018). The main practice of customers travel industry is to travel from destination to
destination for different purpose. There are various sector and companies in travel and tourism
industry such as transportation, car rental, railway and many others. Travel and tourism industry
generate 3.96 million jobs in UK in the year 2020 (Total contribution of travel and tourism to
employment in the United Kingdom from 2012 to 2020, 2021). The following report covers
trends likely to set major impact on chosen profession or industry and Skills, Knowledge as well
as experience required in the selected profession or industry. It also covers evaluation of a job
role within the selected industry.
Analysis and Application
Trends likely to set major impact on chosen profession or industry
There are various trends in travel and tourism industry which are mentioned below-
Safety and hygiene tourism trend- After COVID pandemic, hotels and restaurants seek
opportunity to gain more customers by focusing on maintaining the cleanliness of the hotel.
Today, most customers get attracted toward those hotels and restaurants which are clean. “First
impression is the last impressions”- this is the perfect example of tourism industry growth. Here,
customers analyse how hotels looks and what impression they receive by visiting the hotel at
first time.
Growth of contactless payments- Most of the businesses are turning toward digitally and allow
contactless payment options for their customers such as paid by credit cards, through phones and
many others (Munasinghe, Gunawardhana and Ariyawansa, 2018). It helps to improve the speed
of check-ins and check-outs of customers because only few seconds will required to pay the bills.
Mobile bookings- It is another important trend in travel and tourism industry where most of the
customers book their rooms through mobile phones by using the website or mobile a application
of respective hotels. Hotels also allow discounts for their online booking to motivate customers
to use online mode for bookings.
Voice search and voice control- Mobile assistants such as Siri, Bixby, Google Assistant and
many others are used to search through voice of the customer. In context of tourism industry, it is

essential to capture the guests who search their required hotels through voice searches. Hence,
hotels grab this opportunity and design their website with addition voice search option to
facilitate customers.
Virtual reality tourism trends- Here, most of the hotels show their customers a model of their
hotel that how they actually feel when they reach the hotel through virtual reality technology
(Munasinghe, Gunawardhana and Ariyawansa, 2019). Through this technology customers can
experience hotel interiors, outdoor swimming pools of hotels and the ways they will be treated in
the hotel by the staff members. Customers have greater impact upon virtual reality technology
and they get influenced to book the hotels once they take the overview about how the hotel looks
and have different facilities.
Solo travel- This is another trend which is seen in travel and tourism industry where most of the
customers are opting for solo travel options where they travel from destination to destination
alone. Hence, solo travellers required good security, a guider and few other requirements. Hence,
the hotels which provide good security and the facility of a tour guide who guides the tourist for
new destinations, allowing transportation facilities and many others. This will help to attract solo
travellers toward the hotels.
Robots, chatbots and automation- Today most of the hotels are switching toward using robots
and other technological tools for their main operations like robots serve the food dishes at
customers dining tables and many others (SOBIROV and ALIMOVA, 2019). One of the best
examples of using robotic staff is Hilton hotel chains of robot concierge (Tourism Trends: The
Latest Opportunities for The Tourism Industry, 2021). Robotic staff helps to attract more
customers because customers get attracted toward robots and try to communicate the robots to
see how they respond while ordering the products.
Skills, Knowledge as well as experience required in the selected profession or industry
Skills required in travel and tourism industry-
Communication skill- It is essential for an individual to learn high skills of communication
because these industry different kinds of customers will arrive the hotels like they can be polite
sometime or even they can be aggressive at the same time (Sinaga, Lis and Razimi, 2019).
Hence, a effective communication skill will help the individual to communicate openly with
customers about the products and services they have in their hotels and restaurants. Effective

communication skill not only help to influence customers to buy the services but it also help to
understand the customers and offer them the services which makes them satisfied.
Time management skill- This is another important skill in travel and tourism industry. It is
essential for an individual to have effective time management skill which help them to complete
all tasks on time (Carlisle, Ivanov and Dijkmans, 2021). This skill will also help to satisfy
customers because when a lot of customers arrive at the hotels or restaurants at a same time than
a effective hotel manager will manage all activities appropriately on time. It is essential to have
time management skill and the employees are hired in this industry for this skill.
Problem solving skill- This is the skill which help in solving the quarries and issues of
customers effectively. Hence, this is one of the most important skills to satisfy the customers in
travel and tourism industry. A hotel or restaurant receive various mails and complains from their
customer's side and they expect from the hotel to resolve their quarries and respond their mails as
soon as possible. Therefore, understanding the problem of customers and then taking decision to
resolve the issue will help to satisfy customer who further help in the growth of hotels and
restaurants.
Team working and managing skill- Another important skill which is required in travel and
tourism industry is team working and team managing skill (Polat and Arslan, 2019). A group of
employees work together to satisfy their guests and clients within this industry must know to
work effectively as a team. Hence, a good coordination is essential within the staff members.
Knowledge required in travel and tourism industry-
Management knowledge- It is essential for the employees working in travel and tourism
industry to gain the knowledge of management which help them to identify different
management styles and ways to effectively manage all activities and guests within the industry.
The growth of companies in this industry survives due to their effective management knowledge.
The hotels and restaurants that are popular within this industry are because of their effective
management skill. They know that how they should manage their employees and task effectively
to gain competitive advantage.
Prediction of future trends- The trends of travel and tourism industry has dynamic nature
which means they changes after every short period of time. New trends highlighted in market in
this industry and previous trends get modified. Hence, the knowledge of predicting future trends
will help the hotels and restaurants to grow high by adopting the trend first in the industry.

Experienced required in travel and tourism industry-
High experience is required in this industry for growth of a company. Even every company need
high experience for growth in a particular region (Kiryakova-Dineva, Kyurova and Chankova,
2019). Therefore, a hotel need to research their marketing needs to offer appropriate services and
more customer interaction activities will help to gain more experience about the ways to handle
customer's issues appropriately.
Evaluation
The job role of hotel manager seems to be in my interest because I have all those skills and
knowledge which is required within this industry. Secondly, this is the fastest growing industry
in UK and there is a high scope of new and high reputed jobs creation within this industry. One
of the biggest reason to choose this job because I like to interact with people and I would like to
solve their quarries which further help to manage all things effectively. With this job role, I got
the opportunity to use my strong skills effectively for my professional career and convert my few
of the weak skills into strong skills. I can also learn appropriate knowledge of interacting with
customers and analysing their problems with the help of this job role. I believe that hotel
manager is a job role which help me to become successful not only in professional career but it
also help me to become successful in my personal life by adopting those competences and soft
skills which can develop my personality.

REFERNCES:
Books and Journals:
Carlisle, S., Ivanov, S. and Dijkmans, C., 2021. The digital skills divide: evidence from the
European tourism industry. Journal of Tourism Futures.
Kiryakova-Dineva, T., Kyurova, V. and Chankova, Y., 2019. Soft skills for sustainable
development in tourism: the Bulgarian experience. European Journal of Sustainable
Development, 8(2), pp.57-57.
Munasinghe, L.M., Gunawardhana, T. and Ariyawansa, R.G., 2018, August. Sri Lankan Travel
& Tourism Industry: Recent Trends and Future Outlook towards Real Estate
Development. In International Conference On Business Innovation (pp. 1-10).
Munasinghe, L.M., Gunawardhana, W.H.T. and Ariyawansa, R.G., 2019. Sri Lankan Travel and
Tourism Industry: Recent Trends and Future Outlook towards Real Estate
Development. Available at SSRN 3614984.
Polat, H.A. and Arslan, A., 2019. The rise of popular tourism in the Holy Land: Thomas Cook
and John Mason Cook's enterprise skills that shaped the travel industry. Tourism
Management, 75, pp.231-244.
Sinaga, O., Lis, M. and Razimi, M.S.A., 2019. Education and core skills in the performance with
mediating role of employee innovation. Polish Journal of Management Studies, 19.
SOBIROV, B. and ALIMOVA, M., 2019. Accelerated development of tourism in Uzbekistan:
trends, reforms and results. E-methodology, 6(6), pp.128-140.
Sofronov, B., 2018. The development of the travel and tourism industry in the world. Annals of
Spiru Haret University. Economic Series, 18(4), pp.123-137.
Online-
Total contribution of travel and tourism to employment in the United Kingdom from 2012 to
2020, 2021 [Online] Available through:
<https://www.statista.com/statistics/598098/travel-and-tourism-employment-contribution-united-
kingdom-uk/>
Tourism Trends: The Latest Opportunities for The Tourism Industry, 2021 [Online] Available
through:
<https://www.revfine.com/tourism-trends/>

Appendix-
Job advertisement-
Primary Research Contact -
Contact John Kedrick
Job Role Hotel manager Intern
Date of Contact 27th February 2022 2nd March 2022
Method Face to face interview Through phone
Question
1. In your opinion, what are the significant skills needed to be a successful professional in
travel and tourism industry?
2. On a scale of one to five, how would you rate your experience while working in the

concerned profession?
3. What all challenges you have faced within the respective industry?
Result
The interview summarised that time management skill, problem solving skill, communication
skill and many others skills are essential within travel and tourism industry. Respondent 1 rated
4 whereas Respondent 2 rated 1 in response to their experience in the travel and tourism
industry. Interviewees responded that they had faced miscommunication issues, longer time to
learn and few other issues while working in the industry.