In-Depth Career Research Report on Travel and Tourism Industry

This career research report delves into the travel and tourism industry in the UK, highlighting its growth potential and suitability as a career path. The report identifies key trends shaping the industry, including globalization, technology, social media marketing, hygiene and safety priorities, solo traveling, and the integration of robots in hotels and restaurants. It emphasizes the importance of both soft skills (communication, time management, problem-solving) and hard skills (IT proficiency) for success. Furthermore, the report discusses the significance of predicting future trends, understanding industrial changes, and gaining practical experience through internships. The author evaluates the role of a hotel assistant manager as a suitable entry point, aligning with their existing skills and offering opportunities for growth and development within the dynamic travel and tourism sector. The report also includes primary research in the form of interviews with industry professionals.

Career research report

Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Analysis and Application.................................................................................................................3
Trends likely to set major impacts upon chosen industry............................................................3
Skill, knowledge as well as experience required within selected industry..................................5
Evaluation........................................................................................................................................7
References........................................................................................................................................8
Appendix..........................................................................................................................................9

Introduction
Travel and tourism industry is one of the fastest growing industryin UK. It is a good
opportunity for me to start my professional career in this industry because it is estimated that
various kinds of new jobs will be created within retailing industry in future. Hence I am
interested in the field of travel and tourism. I am planning to start my internships in various
hotels and restaurants to gain experience and knowledge about the field which I have chosen for
my career. The following report will cover marketing trends related to chosen industry and skills,
knowledge and experience required in chosen industry.
Analysis and Application
Trends likely to set major impacts upon chosen industry
 Globalisation and technology-This is one of the most important trend in travel and
tourism which help this industry to grow well (Sofronov, 2018). Due to globalization,
travelling activities get enhanced and there is also a high development of technology. Due
to globalization, hotels and restaurants are not only responsible to manage and satisfy
their local customers but they are also having opportunity to expand their business across
the geographical area and focus on their international customers. Hence, this is a huge
opportunity for an individual to get high professor job within this industry even if they
found the vacant job at another place.
 Social media marketing- Most of the hotels and restaurants are advertising about their
products and services on social media channels such as Instagram, Facebook and many
others. These mediums are having global reach which help the hotels and restaurants to
reach at international customer and impacts their purchasing decision. Here, lots of
companies share the pictures and videos of beautiful travelling destinations and interior
looks of their hotels and restaurants to attract more customers. Therefore, they hire a team
to handle their all social media accounts appropriately. This team is responsible for
replying customers comments and their reviews about hotels through ratings.
 Priority to hygieneand safety- Due to COVID pandemic, lots of customers are
demanding hygienic environment for staying in hotels for their better health (Ahmad and
Adaoglu, 2019). It is important for all hotels and restaurants to follow all regulations and

restrictions which in imposed by their government. Today most of the customers prefer to
visit those restaurants only where they found that food dishes are prepared and served
with effective and hygienic manner. Hence, this is essential for restaurants and hotels to
maintaining their hygienic environment of hotels appropriately. Secondly, safety is also
one of the biggest concern of today’s customers. They require to stay in those hotels
where they found appropriate security for their health and things which they carry.
Hence, hotels are required to gain effective trust of their customers by providing them
effective security.
 Solo traveling- This is one of the most popular trend in travel and tourism industry
where most of the young generation people want to travel alone without their friends and
family (Zhao and Liu, 2020). These kinds of travellers search for those hotels which
allow them appropriate travelling package with all required services like staying,
transportation, a guide, meal and many others. Hence, it’s a good opportunity for hotels
to grow high by attracting teenagers by offering them appropriate travelling packages for
their entertainment. Secondly, they must serve their services according to the needs and
wants of their customers and prices must be vary from service to service. For example,
few solo travellers want transportation facilities included in their travelling packages
provided from hotels and whereas few customers avoid to include transportation service
in their travelling packages because they want to travel through their own vehicle or
rental bikes. Hence, the services and prices will be differ from customer to customer
according to their needs and wants.
 Robots in hotels and restaurants- Today most of the hotels and restaurants use robotic
staff to attract more customers. Customers are attracted toward this services and they like
to interact with robots more than human staff because this is something new to them.
Secondly, using robotic staff will help the hotels and restaurants to save their cost which
they pay their human staff members every month and this can also help them to mitigate
duplication of work because robotics are programmed, they will not perform any error
until there is any technical issues in their programming.
 Combination of soft and hard skills for recruitment and selection- Earlier hotels and
restaurants hire only those employees who are having soft skills like communication
skill, time management skill, problem solving skills and many others (Hong, 2018). But

today, when the world is stepping toward development big technology, hotels and
restaurants are more focused to hire those employees who are having both soft skills as
well as hard/technical skills such as IT skills, presentation skill and many others. This
will help the companies to develop their efficiency and productivity effectively.
Skill, knowledge as well as experience required within selected industry
Skills required for travel and tourism industry-
 Communication skills- It is essential to have effective communication skill for the
individuals who work within this industry because it is essential for them to convey their
message and clear all doubts of their customers to gain high profit for the company. For
example, a customer arrive at hotel or any restaurant than the customer will interact with
front office employees at reception and ask for services and their prices. If the employees
are lacking behind to communicate well with customers and unable to provide them
appropriate information about their services than this can impact negative upon their
profitability and customers will switch to another hotel or restaurant.
 Time management skill- It is also essential for employees of travel and tourism industry
to have time management skills to satisfy their customers and influence them to use same
hotel’s services again and again. Employees like chef, waiters, hotel manager and few
others are having effective time management skills than they can quickly conduct their
performance and make their customers happy (Gil-Alana, Ruiz-Alba and Ayestarán,
2020). For example, a chef must manage his time to prepare various food dishes at a sane
time and waiters must make sure that they will take orders if their customers as quick as
possible and offer them their ordered dish quickly. This skill will also help the employees
to analyse that which task should be performed first than others according to prioritise.
 Problem solving skill- It is also essential for employees of this industry to have effective
problem solving skill because there are various kinds of customers which arrive at hotels
and restaurants per day. Some customers are having polite behaviour whereas some are
having aggressive behaviour. Hence, a effective problem solving skilled employee will
know that how to manage each customer and their issues effectively with different ways.
Here, employees understand the issue first and then make those decisions which are
beneficial for their hotels.

 Computer skills- It is also essential for the employees of travel and tourism industry to
have effective computer skills where they must know how to operate computers for their
daily purpose and other relatable devices such as tablets, management of database and
many others. Today, most of the hotels and restaurants are converting themselves as
digitally developed which means all information will be shared and conversations will be
conducted through digitally (Wakelin-Theron, Ukpere and Spowart, 2018). Hence, a
employee must know the knowledge of computers and must have all computer skills to
perform their work easily and effectively.
Knowledge required for travel and tourism industry-
 Prediction of future trends-It is essential for those employees who work in this industry
to predict the future trends which can help their hotels and restaurants to grow well
within the industry. For this they are required to participate actively in marketing research
on regular basis so that they will try to predict the needs and wants of their customers and
what all changes their competitors are adopting.
 Knowledge for industrial Change- It is also important for the individual who work
within this industry to analyse the changes within their industry (Booyens, 2020). Here,
they must focus on the performance of their competitors and the technological changes
within their industry for future growth. Analysing about competitors will help the hotel to
make defending strategies by launching new services for their customers at lower level to
create uniqueness for their organisation in the industry.
Experience required in travel and tourism industry-
High level of experience is required by the employees in travel and tourism industry.
Hence, the individuals who are planning to start their career in this industry must apply for
internships and other growth opportunities like industrial tour and many others to gain
experience about how employees work within this industry. Recruiters are focused to hire those
employees more who already have proper knowledge about the task and the ways to perform
these task within this industry. Hence, high experience employees are always demanding
employees for this industry.

Evaluation
The job role of hotel assistant manager is seems to be in my interest areaand this job role
matches to my existing skills and qualities. With the help of my strengths I will grow in this area
well and try my best to convert my weakness into my strengths. Due to my low experience in
this industry I want to start with assistant manager so that I can work under an experienced
manager and observe him that how he manage all hotel activities appropriately. This job is
chosen by me due to my existing skills and interest. I am having appropriate communication
skill, time management skill, IT skills and many others. Secondly, the following job role of
assistant hotel manager is provided by various facilities within a hotel like healthcare services,
paid leaves, flexible working hour, less work burden and many others. My confidence and self
motivation level will get enhanced by starting my professional career in travel and tourism
industry as an Assistant Hotel Manager.

References
Ahmad, W. and Adaoglu, C., 2019. Cash management in the travel and leisure sector: evidence
from the United Kingdom. Applied Economics Letters, 26(7), pp.618-621.
Booyens, I., 2020. Education and skills in tourism: Implications for youth employment in South
Africa. Development Southern Africa, 37(5), pp.825-839.
Gil-Alana, L.A., Ruiz-Alba, J.L. and Ayestarán, R., 2020. UK tourism arrivals and departures:
seasonality, persistence and time trends. Applied Economics, 52(46), pp.5077-5087.
Hong, J., 2018. Rise of the sharing economy and the future of travel and tourism
industry. Journal of Hotel and Business Management, 7(2), pp.2169-0286.
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.
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), pp.1-18.
Zhao, Y. and Liu, B., 2020. The evolution and new trends of China's tourism industry. National
Accounting Review, 2(4), pp.337-353.

Appendix
Job Advertisement
Primary Research Contact
Contact Tony Bills Chris Swonson
Job Role Hotel manager Intern
Date of Contact 16th April 2022 2nd May 2022
Method Face Time Face Time

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 are the common complexities and issues which arise in the respective industry?
Result
It is essential for an individual to have communication skill, time management skill, problem
solving skill, IT skills and many others skills in travel and tourism industry for selected job role.
Respondent 1 rated 4 whereas Respondent 2 rated 2 in response to their experience as a
successful employee in travel and tourism industry. Difficulties in managing different business
issues, ineffective communication mediums, issue of data security, and uncertain shifts in
business were the most common problems encountered by the interviewees.