Career Research Report: Travel and Tourism Agent Role Analysis

This report presents a comprehensive career research analysis focusing on the role of a travel and tourism agent. It begins with an introduction to career research and its importance, followed by an analysis of the travel and tourism sector, highlighting its growth and economic impact, particularly within the UK. The report delves into both secondary and primary research methods. Secondary research examines industry trends such as globalization, technological advancements, and changing consumer preferences, and their impact on the profession. It also outlines the essential skills, knowledge, and experience required for a travel agent. Primary research is conducted through an interview with a travel agent, providing insights into the current industry landscape and the agent's perspective. An evaluation of the chosen career path follows, considering the author's skills and interests, and concluding with a discussion on the importance of career research and the evolving nature of the tourism sector.

Viewpoint
(Travel and Tourism)

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
ANALYSIS & APPLICATION......................................................................................................1
Secondary research......................................................................................................................2
Primary research..........................................................................................................................3
Evaluation...................................................................................................................................4
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................5
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................6
APPENDICES.................................................................................................................................7

INTRODUCTION
Career researching can be referred to as the procedure whereby a person performs a well
detailed analysis and evaluation of options in order to select the area of interest in which
individual wants to pursue their occupation (Wong, Law and Zhao, 2018). This type of research
provides guidance as well as support to persons in order to determine the industry in which they
want to gain entry for elevating their professional development.
Being a fresh graduate, it is important for me to choose an area of work wherein I can
pursue my career. In this relation, I have selected Travel and Tourism industry as this is one of
the most rapidly evolving business sectors rendering a large number of opportunities for career
aspirants. To execute the investigation upon tour and travelling sector, primary and secondary
researches have been undertaken. The job position selected is Travel and Tourism Agent for this
assignment.
ANALYSIS & APPLICATION
Travel and tourism sector involves a large quantum of independent and large scale
conglomerate businesses which are engaged in provision of services associated with
accommodation, travelling, sight seeing, transportation, camping and holiday experience. This
has been regarded as one of the most fastest growing and developing business sectors of the
world. The rapidly evolving phase of this industry has a large scale contribution within the
economy of a country. Within the confines of United Kingdom, the share of travel and tourism is
huge, approximating to around 80% of overall economy of the respective nation. The vibrancy as
well as vitality of this sector can even be witnessed from the fact that it generates an overall
revenue of at-least £106 billion each year. This sector has provided homes and quality standard
of living to a large number of people. Every year, the employment opportunities generated as a
result of businesses pertaining to this industry are over 2 million within England (The value of
tourism in England, 2019). Becoming a travel and tourism agent can be one of the most lucrative
career growth opportunities for an individual looking upon its scale as well as size. Becoming an
agent in a field of work whereby the main aim of business entities is to satisfy the needs and
wants of customers, is a tough task yet an interesting one to be pursued by me as a career. For
more information upon this industry and the chosen job role, secondary and primary research
have been conducted.
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Secondary research
Under this, information is collected by way of sources whereby the data is already
published by government or agency. This type of research is carried out in order to ascertain
more information and facts pertaining to travel and tourism sector by studying the content
furnished by other authors, scientists, researchers and academicians in past (Song and Bae,
2018). Hereby, information is gathered through websites, articles, journals, books, survey
findings, census etc.
General trends that may have impact over chosen profession
The travel agent, operating within an entity engaged in provision of tourism services,
hold a large number of responsibilities associated with stipulation of facilities and satisfaction of
customer demands. It is required that the duties and roles related to the post of travel and tourism
agent should be fulfilled while taking into consideration the general trends prevailing within the
specified business sector. During the year 2017, the residents of England incurred a sum of
£19 billion upon a total of 100.6 million domestic overnight trips. Further, overseas visitors spent
an amount of £21.4 billion in 2017 to make 34.3 million trips (Hsu, 2018). This stresses upon the
massive scale at which this business sector is growing and undergoing changes. The alterations
occur as a result of the trends pertaining to tourism. Such trends can be summarised as emerging
technologies, changes in customer preferences and lifestyles, sustainable tourism, advance
bookings, cultural tours, personalisation, use of robots and chat bots, voice technology,
globalisation, adversities owing to BREXIT, competitive policies etc. (Mooney, 2018). All of
these trends largely impact upon the nature and type of services provides by travel and tourism
companies along with the people working within such entities.
For instance: Globalisation is an emerging trend which is enhancing the needs and
demands of consumers spread across the globe, thus creating pressure upon the agencies to come
up with innovative and lucrative offerings and benefits that have the capacity to attract tourists
towards them. Yet another significant trend within this business sector is technological
advancements which facilitate travel organisations to come up with facilities like online booking,
Augmented Reality (AR), voice technology, Virtual Reality (VR), Artificial Intelligence (AI),
Internet of Things (IoT) etc. (Gibson and et. al., 2018). The entities that are not able to
incorporate such changes are out-powered by other hi-tech travel companies. In this regard, the
travel and tourism agent is required to possess adequate and relevant knowledge of all these
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trends in order to ensure that these changes within industry do not cause a shift in the loyal
customer base of establishments.
Skills / knowledge and experience required
A Travel and Tourism agent holds several responsibilities for which they require skills/
knowledge and experience so as to ensure the execution of roles in a desirable manner. The skills
and knowledge required to be possessed for up-taking this role are briefly explained below:-
Skills
Communication: This is ascertained to be one of the most essential skills that must be
possessed by tour agent to effectively interact with the customers on a daily basis (Farmaki,
2018).
Persuasion: This is the primary skill through which the behavioural characteristics of
customers can be easily influenced at the time of purchasing tour and holiday packages.
Conflict management: This is yet another essential skill which provides assistance to
tour and travel agents in resolving conflicts taken place with customers. This helps the
organisation to retain consumers for long term.
Technical skills: Owing to the rapid advancements taken place within the confines of
tourism sector, it is significant for travel agents to possess sound technical skills so that they can
make use of latest and emerging technologies prevailing in marketplace (Coghlan and Weiler,
2018).
Multi tasking: As the travel agent is responsible for a large number of service such as
accommodation, sight seeing, camping, transportation, multi tasking is an essential skill that
must be possessed by them in order to ensure fulfilment of customer needs.
Knowledge area and experience
Tourism: It is essential for the travel agent to possess knowledge of the various locations
and trends pertaining to tourism sector in order to actively meet the demands and preferences of
local and overseas tourists (Tung, Tang and King, 2018).
Accounting & Finance: The agent is also required to possess knowledge of finance in
order to maintain budgetary data and statistics associated with the respective company.
Primary research
Primary research can be referred to as the method whereby data is freshly collected by
investigator (Khoo-Lattimore, 2018). To ascertain the skills and knowledge that are required to
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be possessed by a travel agent, an interview is taken with the tour agent of a well renowned
organisation pertaining to tourism sector.
Name of contact Mr. XYZ
Company PQR Ltd.
Job tittle Travel Agent
Date of contact 15/07/19
How did you contact them I went for a seminar in a University whereby i had an interactive
session with the travel agent of PQR Ltd.
Question asked 1) What are the improvements taken place within tourism sector
that benefit organisations?
2) How is the working atmosphere of the respective company?
3) What are the additional benefits for agents post the
accomplishment of targets?
Summary of response In response to the enquiries made by me, he briefed me that
immense growth and advancements have taken place within the
specified sector over a period of last 10 years. Technologies such
as AI, AR, VR and voice technology have disrupted the face of
tourism. Further, the organisational culture is positive and
promotes the growth of employees. He also stated that agents get
commisssion and rewards as the targets are attained by them.
Evaluation
As I have completed my graduation, the time has come for me to choose a career path
which can help me in getting elevated in professional working, with effective use of my skill set
and competencies. I have recently completed my post graduation (MBA) with specialisation in
Finance and Marketing. To avail a career path, I have selected the job position of travel and
tourism agent. I consider it to be the appropriate and relevant field of work for me as I am an
extremely outgoing and social person and possess the capability to make use of my interpersonal
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skills to persuade customers to make a purchase of the holiday or tour packages. Tourism is one
of the fastest growing and developing sectors of economy which presents opportunities for me to
undertake a job in this industry. The major reason behind undertaking this job role is that I am
largely aware of the latest trends that take place within the confines of tourism. Further, my
communication skills will help me to effectively interact with customers and persuade them to
experience a package sold by the respective company. Further, I possess the tactics to deal with
any kind of queries or conflicts arising with people. Thus, a career in tourism sector will help me
to employ my skill set for the enrichment of my future and developing my professional
background.
CONCLUSION
As per the above furnished information, it can be said that career research is one of the
most important aspects that must be taken into consideration by individuals while choosing an
area of work. Further, it has been analysed that primary as well as secondary research aid in
acquiring desired information about the field of work. Besides this, it has been evaluated that
there are a number of trends that have and are constantly emerging within tourism sector, such as
globalisation, BREXIT, voice technology, AR, IoT, VR, use of robots, online bookings and AI.
These have to be constantly taken into account by travel agent in order to optimally satisfy the
needs and demands of local and overseas tourists.
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REFERENCES
Books & Journals
Coghlan, A. and Weiler, B., 2018. Examining transformative processes in volunteer
tourism. Current Issues in Tourism. 21(5). pp.567-582.
Farmaki, A., 2018. Tourism and hospitality internships: A prologue to career intentions?. Journal
of Hospitality, Leisure, Sport & Tourism Education. 23. pp.50-58.
Gibson, H. J. and et. al., 2018. Introduction to the special issue active sport tourism.
Gössling, S., 2018. Tourism, tourist learning and sustainability: an exploratory discussion of
complexities, problems and opportunities. Journal of Sustainable Tourism. 26(2).
pp.292-306.
Hsu, C. H., 2018. Tourism education on and beyond the horizon. Tourism management
perspectives. 25. pp.181-183.
Khoo-Lattimore, C., 2018. The ethics of excellence in tourism research: A reflexive analysis and
implications for early career researchers. Tourism Analysis. 23(2). pp.239-248.
Mooney, S., 2018. Jobs for the girls? Women’s employment and career progression in the
hospitality industry. Handbook of hospitality human resource management. pp.184-215.
Song, H. and Bae, S. Y., 2018. Understanding the travel motivation and patterns of international
students in Korea: using the theory of travel career pattern. Asia Pacific Journal of
Tourism Research. 23(2). pp.133-145.
Tung, V. W. S., Tang, M. F. C. and King, B. E. M., 2018. Tourism industry career prospects and
the business environment: E vidence from C anada and M acau. International Journal of
Tourism Research. 20(4). pp.518-525.
Wong, I. A., Law, R. and Zhao, X., 2018. Time-variant pleasure travel motivations and
behaviors. Journal of Travel Research. 57(4). pp.437-452.
Online
The value of tourism in England. 2019. [Online]. Available Through:
<https://www.visitbritain.org/value-tourism-england>.
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APPENDICES
CURRICULUM VITAE
Curriculum Vitae
Name: Milano Christino
Address: XXX Street, YYY City, United Kingdom
Phone No.: 033-333-3333
Career Aim: To work in an organisation whereby I can make use of my exceptional skill set
and competencies for the elevation of individual and company's growth.
Educational Qualification:
 BBA
 MBA
Declaration: I hereby state that the data furnished by me above is true to the best of my
knowledge and I can furnish the related documents as an evidence as and when required.
Date: 17th July, 2019
Place: YYY City
JOB DESCRIPTION
Job Description
Organisation Name: ABC Ltd.
Post: Travel and Tourism Agent
Roles and Responsibilities
 Promotion and marketing of business within market.
 Communication with customers to get confirmation on itineraries.
 Sourcing of locations and services in order to meet demands of people for sustainable
travel and tourism.
 Handling the enquiries as well as queries of customers to fulfil their expectation.
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 Sale of holiday, corporate and tour packages.
 Maintenance of budgetary and statistical records.
 Liaising with travel associates, inclusive of hotels, transportation, adventure sports
and airlines.
 Ensuring the fulfilment of needs and demands of customers for their long term
retention.
Required Qualification
 Must possess a Graduate degree from recognised university
 MBA in finance and marketing
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