Tourism involves travel that can be pleasure-oriented or business-oriented. The pleasure-oriented jobs are mostly related to travel writers or bloggers. You get to visit the assigned places or countries for their promotion or explore their culture and communities. A travel blogger mostly visits places, creates content relevant to their visit, clicks pictures, and writes blogs based on their visit. Many blogging-based companies offer jobs to such travel bloggers, and the best part about it is you get paid to travel the world.
Some companies that focus on the business or service-providing aspect with the tourists offer jobs that are mostly concerned with public relations and travel solutions. Their perspective lies in providing comfort and convenience to tourists in their travels, plan a budget-friendly trip covering most of the places the client wants to travel, provide meals and stay, all-inclusive in a package. The jobs here range from being a travel consultant, travel agent, hotel or restaurant manager, marketing and tourism specialist to being a cabin crew or ground staff in the airlines. We will analyze each of the aspects individually.
What Surveys Depict?
According to surveys, travel and tourism jobs in the USA showed an increment from 2010 to 2018. According to a report from the U.S. Travel Association, travel jobs increased 22% compared to only 17% of jobs in the rest of the private sector from 2010 to 2018.
The forecast shows that numbers are going to increase in the post COVID era. Travel and Tourism is a sector that contributes to the economy of many tourist-based countries that have fallen due to the situation. But post-COVID, the travel and tourism sector will take a huge leap with so many good opportunities to offer.
Coming back to the reports from surveys, from 2010 to 2017, the travel jobs were booming in states like California, Florida, Texas, New York, and Nevada, which are all large states indeed. However, talking about the smaller states such as Idaho, Utah, Colorado, and Washington are building from a smaller base of travel jobs. As a result, they will have high job growth rates, according to U.S. Travel Association reports.
Skills Required to Fit into This Sector
First and foremost, you must be a travel enthusiast. Exploring, connecting to communities, learning different languages, communicating with communities, and knowing different cultures and traditions should be fascinating to people related to this sector. This is the minimum skill required to flourish in the Travel and Tourism sector.
Patience is something that is needed in any work. It is the key to unlock success. You need to believe in the saying “All good thing takes time,” the power of slow. Calmness and patience lead you to better thinking and execution, which is a priority for tourism.
Awareness of your job duties, cultural sensitivity, and keen observations are also critical criteria for a Tourism Professional as they interact with people from different cultures and countries. Flexibility is the most important need for the jobs here. The work involves traveling, which can vary from days to months based on the demand.
Other Skills
- Confidence
- Diligence
- Commitment
- Good administration and management skills
- Good research and planning skills
- Strong network skills
- Hard work
- Problem-solving skills
- Groomed personality
- Time management skills
- Teamwork
- Leadership skills
If you feel traveling is what makes you feel alive, it makes you happy and refreshed. Exploring places and communities carries a special meaning in your life. So pack your bags and be ready to kick start your career in this sector.
Short Courses for Travel and Tourism in the United States
- A certificate course for Hospitality and Tourism Management in San Francisco State University
- Short course on Hospitality Management in International Career Institute, Los Angeles
- Hotel Management in Coursera, Mountain View, USA
- ACP and Hotel Management in University of California
- Introduction to the Hospitality Industry in Boston University
The courses mentioned above will help you enhance your skills, increasing your chance of getting a job of your choice. It is always beneficial to have additional certificates relevant to your sector.
Job Profiles in Travel and Tourism
There are ample job opportunities in both private and public sectors for graduates in Travel and Tourism. However, experience is a significant factor in this field to grow.
Here are some of the job profiles:
- Holiday/Travel Agent – Their job is to hear and evaluate the requirements of tourists and help them plan the best possible trip. They are often connected to some of the hotels and transports companies that hire and pay them for their promotion among the clients. Planning, researching, listening, and arranging everything as per the requirements come under their duty.
- Travel Officer – Their job is to compare the prices of hotels, flights, and cabs and come up with a reasonable, budget-friendly arrangement. They set up discounts with the owners and create itineraries.
- Travel Executive – They deal with the execution process. They make sure the travel is happening on time and within budget. They also look up to the bookings.
- Tourist Manager – They are mostly concerned about the promotional aspect in a particular region. They carry out tourism promotions via campaigns and advertising strategies.
- Cabin Crew/Ground Staff – They play a significant role in commercial activities, airline operations, etc. their job is vast and includes inspection, storage, and transportation of luggage. In addition, they prioritize passenger’s convenience and help them with their meals as well.
- Tourist Guide – Their role is to make the tourist familiar with the place they are visiting by telling them about the place’s history, cultural importance, and heritage. Their job requires proper research of the places they are taking the tourists to.
- Transport Officer – They keep track of all the vehicles under them. Ensure safety and protection, carry out certification process wherever required. They are either appointed by a state government or local transport body.
- Travel Consultants – Their job is to ensure the best travel deals for the tourist. They provide the tourist with a complete travel guide. It is their job to give a detailed outlook on the tour even before it starts.
- Tour Operator – The main objective of a travel operator is to operate and manage domestic or international trips of clients. Many companies fall under this category. They plan and organize the tour, manages to stay, and ensure well organization of the tour.
- Travel Writer – This is the most common and fun option to choose. One who has a passion for writing and creates blogs related to places they visit or their vacation can opt for this career path. They get paid to travel and explore, eventually leading to a good write-up.
- Marketing and Tourism Specialist – They research the tourist industries to understand the current scenario and demands, key points boosting the trend. They also build and create new ideas to smoothly organize marketing campaigns. Other duties include increasing traffic in the tourism company’s content, working on search engine optimization, and participating in activities in various areas to get a clear picture of it. Last but not least, they organize events for promotion.
- Hotel Manager – Their main focus lies in providing convenient stay to the tourists. The hotel manager needs to have good communication skills and good listening skills to hear the client’s requirements for their stay and act accordingly. They keep track of the tourists coming in and leaving, ensuring the clients’ safety and security. They are employed mainly to look over the running of the hotel and contribute some productive ideas.
These job profiles with the descriptions can help you figure out where you would be a right fit. One can get a clear idea of the work you will have to do in the particular area. Take some time to figure out your interest, read the duties of all categories carefully, and then compare it with the skills you carry in you. You will get clarity of what you should pursue as your career.
Irrespective of few differences in the job role, there is a common ground in almost all the job profiles: interaction with the tourists and traveling. So, even before you think about the job, contemplate whether you would be okay leaving your comfort zone and travel to unfamiliar places? Of course, the answer is YES if you love packing, traveling, and exploring.
Whatever you choose, keep one thing in mind, experience is everything in the travel and tourism sector. If you are new here, don’t run after money. Instead, look for an entry-level job where the requirements to hire would be less and try to work religiously in whatever you do. Eventually, success will follow you.
Benefits of Having a Travel and Tourism Degree
- Here you will get to know the optimistic aspect of studying travel and tourism. First of all, it is a course with less academic and more field value. Second, it is advantageous for a person who likes fieldwork more than desk work. Third, it will work in favor of people who cannot sit in one place to work.
- Internships here are fascinating for those who love to travel. Your skills will get enhanced in your internship days. Skills to communicate, explore, observe, and personality development collaterally comes along with the degree. Additionally, it will make you confident.
- This offers you a combination of exploring with employment. What else can be more fun than this? It can be adventurous, exciting, and well-paying.
- This degree will provide you an opportunity to get a better idea of the world. The tourism sector is interconnected, so this will help you to expand your network. It is always better to connect with as many people as possible to have a good network to increase your chance of opportunities and success.
- Finding part-time work in the travel and tourism sector is quite easy as it is a big sector.
- As it is a sector that provides ample field exposure, you can indulge in voluntary work.
- It also helps to build a good vocabulary because communication is of great value here. You will find many opportunities to learn foreign languages if that sounds fascinating to you. It will work in your favor.
Salary Outlook in Travel and Tourism jobs
Surveys suggest that the average base pay for graduates in Travel and Tourism can be around $45,734 per year in the United States. However, the salary depends on many other factors such as skills, experience, University of graduation, scores of an individual, place where you apply, etc. So, the figures here are mentioned to have an idea hypothetically.
Some of the popular occupations with their salary, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, are depicted below:
- Airline and Commercial Pilots: $115,670 per year
- Flight Attendants: $56,000 per year
- Air Traffic Controllers: $124,540 per year
- Lodging Managers: $53,390
- Travel Agents: $38,700 per year (travel agents mostly work on commission)
- Meeting, Convention, and Event Planners: $49,370 per year
Talking about travel bloggers (that happen to be the most popular and interesting choice) earn around $110,500 annually. They come under the top earner’s category. In contrast, 75 percentile of travel bloggers earns around $90,500 per year. Travel bloggers who earn up to $ 63,173 annually can be considered average. And, 25 percentile of travel bloggers earn around $34,500 per year. When it comes to a travel blogger’s salary, one disadvantage that is necessary to mention is inconsistency in earning, especially when you are working for yourself.
Jobs Available for Tourism in the United States
There are presently 13000 plus job vacancies for graduates in travel and tourism on LinkedIn. Approximately 392 vacancies are newly added.
Link for your reference.
https://www.linkedin.com/jobs/tourism-jobs
Personal research for more opportunities from many other websites is still suggested.
A Quick Note
Travel Enthusiasts, it is your time to fly. So pack your bags, choose an opportunity that is right for you and get going. Seek pleasure in your work and enjoy life.
