Tourism as a career
PUJA S NAVIN
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HOLIDAY MAGIC: Winning trust and forging networks. Photo: K. Ananthan
THERE'S SO much more to a travel job than meets the eye. If you thought that ticketing and reservation was a boring job, just dig deeper and look at the wealth of knowledge, skills and of course, the knack of developing networks and customer relationships that lie underneath.
"Travel is an adventure, an education and an experience all rolled into one. It is a continuous learning curve. It is both a science and art.
"An art in terms of the places we sell and the richness of cultures that we enjoy, and a science in terms of managing the business side of it," reads the Charter of the International Travel and Tourism Training Programme, conducted by the International Air Transport Association (IATA), the apex body of the airlines and travel trade.
The organisation is based in Montreal, Canada. Says P. Ponnuswamy, Director, Sanpo Institute of Airlines and Travels that conducts the foundation course in Coimbatore,
"There are 270 airline companies in the world and all are IATA members. For any travel agency to operate authentically, it should become an IATA member."
The course has theory components, which has modules on world geography, travel and tourism, business environment, travel formalities, visa and passport application process, travel terminology, travel agency management, airport formalities, immigration procedures, travel medicine, travel insurance, conversion of foreign currency and geographical locations of international airports.
"Students must have the practical knowledge of routes, for example if you want to go from Coimbatore to New York, there's the Atlantic route, the Indian Ocean route and the Pacific route," says Mr. Ponnuswamy.
The spectrum of knowledge required to succeed in the trade in phenomenal and helping you in developing your professional base are the various specialisations courses in IATA.
After completing your foundation course, which requires students to complete Std 10, you can go in for a consultant's course, a management diploma and a senior management diploma.
One can really specialise in finance, human resources, marketing, law, technical services, security, strategic management for airlines, airports, civil aviation and cargo, says Kalyan Raman, Resident Executive, of Amadeus, company selling computerised reservation software (CRS).
Kalyan advises students to decide an area of choice, it could be airlines, a travel agency or a tour operator and then gather information to get the right qualifications through IATA.
But just qualifications are not enough to make a good travel professional.
"The curiosity to learn more, creativity to develop tour packages and a friendly nature are crucial," says Mr. Punnuswamy. Since this is a service industry, "you have to be crystal clear in your communication and what you promise.
If you promise an accommodation, what is the nature of accommodation, if you talk about a pick up facility, you should be specific whether it is a car, if a car an air conditioned car," cautions V. Kumar, who is the Manager of Starline Travels Limited in Coimbatore.
And as far as entrepreneurship is concerned, "holiday packages have a tremendous potential," says Nirupa, Manager of Ashok Travels, one of the oldest travel agencies in the city. "There is a potential, but the challenge is how to exploit that potential," says Mr. Kumar.
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Karnataka
Chennai
Coimbatore
Hyderabad
Madurai
Tiruchirapalli
Vijayawada
Visakhapatnam
