Careers in Tourism

CAREERS IN TOURISM
victorine mcdaniel 12/17/2020

petrekin
• Tourism is a diverse industry which offers long-

term career opportunities for enthusiastic
individuals who want to put their education and
skills to work in various environments.
• People in tourism may work indoors or
outdoors, standard hours or on a flexible
schedule, seasonal jobs or all-year-round. It is
one of the most exciting and diverse career paths
out there.
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• The tourism industry can be divided into career

areas: accommodation, food and beverage
services, recreation and entertainment,
transportation and travel services.
• All of these areas involve providing services to
people who visit from other parts of the country
and the world.
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• From operational positions to management and

executive-level responsibilities, you will find
opportunities for solid training, knowledge and
skill development along with unlimited career
growth. The tourism industry also offers a
unique environment for those who wish to start
their own business.
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• The Tourism industry makes up a significant

part of the economy, directly and indirectly
providing employment to numerous individuals.
• Due to globalization and modern technology, the
world has grown smaller and greater amounts of
information are available about places all over
the world. With the ease of technology and
efficient methods of transportation, tourism has
become increasingly popular and appreciated.
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• Careers in tourism offer many diverse roles and settings.

Tourism careers include working in a hotel or resort, on a
cruise ship, in an adventure sports centre, as a tour guide
leading activities and historical trips, as a travel guide
writer or as a driver or flight attendant.
• Individuals in the tourism field should have a love and
appreciation for travel, strong coordination and
organizational skills to coordinate trips, services, schedules
and accommodation, and enjoy working with people.
• Many individuals pursuing a career in tourism have
specialized skills and interest in particular activities such as
scuba diving, sailing, kayaking, hiking, etc.
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• Professionals working in the tourism industry

generally work untraditional hours according to the
hours of operation of hotels, restaurants and
recreational centres, transportation requirements and
activity schedules. Some careers associated with the
tourism industry require formal educational programs
such as hotel managers, pilots and other leadership
roles; however most careers in tourism require
specific skill sets rather than formal education.
Careers in tourism can offer exciting and
unconventional work settings and opportunities.
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• HOTEL STAFFING
• The staffing for hotels range from executive level positions
such as general managers to unskilled positions at lower levels.
Jobs such as resident manager, front office manager, director
of sales, catering manager, reservations clerk, housekeeper,
doorman, kitchen helper, and laundry worker represent only a
few of the many levels of employment in hotels.
• In many cases, there is a shortage of trained workers and often
there is no local management expertise. The worker shortage is
also a result of low pay, long hours, and high turnover that
many hotels experience. For international hotels, there is also a
shortage of experienced managers who are often brought in
from beyond the national boundaries. These expatriate
managers generally have the required hotel education and
training that is not available locally.
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Skills and personality
• Analytical and evaluation skills to assess programs and

services and customer satisfaction to make improvements
• Coordination and problem solving abilities working with
other staff and professionals and setting up times and
resources for events and activities
• Creativity and ingenuity developing advertising strategies
for programs, accommodation and services
• Enjoy working directly with people and helping them to
have an enjoyable time
• Enthusiasm and commitment to meeting sales goals and
reaching out to potential customers
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• Excellent communication skills making guests feel

welcome and comfortable
• Exceptional customer service skills assisting
guests and clients and ensuring satisfaction
• Highly organized and able to multi-task
performing different tasks at the same time
• Leadership abilities managing staff and programs
• Planning skills, organizing activities and services
for clients
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Food and Beverage

Make-up of the Food Service Industry
• The Food and Beverage sector covers all types of
establishments supplying food and drinks, from
hotels and restaurants, to pubs, clubs and
venues. This sector attracts people who like to
work with people, creating and serving meals,
making cocktails, designing menus etc. These
occupations require excellent social skills as
people are working closely with each other and
with the public.
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A segment of the
hospitality industry, the
food service industry
includes the following
operations:
 Commercial cafeterias
 Education food service
 Employee food service
 Full-service restaurants
 Health care
 Lodging food service
 Quick-service restaurants
 Recreational food service
 Social caterers
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• Careers in the Food and Beverages area

include:
• Chef
• Commis Chef - entry level role of a chef – prepares
dishes to be cooked, general kitchen work
• Restaurant manager
• Waiter
• Sommelier - Wine expert
• Bar Staff
• Bar Manager
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Care
ers I
Sect n Th
or e Ac
com
mod
ation
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Make-up of the Lodging Industry
A segment of the
hospitality industry, the
lodging industry includes
the following operations:
All suite hotels
Casino hotels
Conference centers
Full-service hotels
Limited-service hotels
Resorts
Retirement
communities
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Other Hospitality Operations

When we think about the
hospitality industry, we
often ignore the following
operations:
Airlines
Campgrounds
City clubs
Country clubs
Cruise ships
National parks
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Hospitality Career
Advantages Disadvantages
 Many career options o Long hours.
 Varied nature of work
 Many opportunities to be
o Nontraditional work
creative schedules.
 Work in a ‘people’ business o Intense pressure at
 Highly flexible hours
 Opportunities for long-term times.
career growth o Low starting salaries.
 Offer of perquisites (perks)
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Attitudes & Skills necessary for working in the

tourism sector
• Attitudes are the feelings and beliefs that largely

determine how persons perceive their
environment, commit themselves to intended
action and ultimately behave.
• Attitudes are a mental set that affects how a
person will view something else much as a
window provides a framework for our view into or
out of a building.
• Attitudes can best be observed through one’s body
language and tone of voice.
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Aspects of attitudes that impact on the

quality of service provided to the Customer
• Appearance- there is often a connection between

how you look and how you behave. Good
grooming is very important. One’s appearance
must reflect professionalism on the job.
• Body Language- attitudes are transmitted
through one’s body language. How one stands,
sits or moves sends direct signals to others. This
alone can communicate more than half of the
message one communicates.
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• Tone of Voice- this can say it all, it can reveal our

true meanings or intentions.
• Tact- it is important to select the right words to
say and saying them in the right tone of voice. A
tactless remark, intentional or not may prove to
be offensive to the customer.
• Attentiveness- quality service demands that each
guest be appreciated for his/her own
individuality.
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Three types of skills are necessary for work in the

tourism industry. These may be classified as
follows:
1. Technical skills
2. Human Relation Skills
3. Conceptual Skills
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Technical Skills
 These are abilities to perform the tasks
associated with the job. They may be
operational skills such as serving food/making a
reservation, supervisory skills such as
completing reports and scheduling employees
or managerial skills such as budgeting and
developing work plans.
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Human Relations Skills

This include a wide array of abilities to include
communicating with internal and external
customers, self-presentation skills such as
friendliness, being helpful and courteous and the
ability to deal sensitively and effectively with
multicultural issues, international clientele and
international business etiquette.
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Conceptual Skills
Refers to the ability of the employees to visualize
the entire organization as a whole, each of its
components and how they relate to and affect
each individual’s understanding of how the
tourism system works and have a sound
understanding of the business and economic
environment in which the organization operates.
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Personal Characteristics and Skill Areas
Data:
Good at math and science, analyzing information,
and working with graphs.
People
Enjoy helping people, supervising & motivating
people, and negotiating & selling.
Things
Good at building or fixing things; like working
with hands; like working with gadgets or tools.
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Career opportunities in the tourism sector
Choosing a Career in Tourism

Tourism is a major economic activity in all the
countries of the Caribbean region.
It provides employment for many skilled and
unskilled workers and provides foreign currency
which is used by countries to pay for goods and
services imported from other countries and to
finance local projects.
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There are a number of steps which should be taken in

a certain sequence to choose a career.
Step 1
Collect all the information available on possible
careers such as what it entails, availability of
training and length of programmes.
Step 2
List option realistically available to you. This will
depend on personal aptitudes, abilities and
financial resources and availability of training.
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Step 3
Among the options realistically available, assess your
chance of achieving each one separately, applying
much the same criteria as step2. at this stage,
personal preferences will play an important part.
Step 4
Assess how quickly, with the advancement of
technology the careers under consideration might
become obsolete.
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Step 5
Determine how much you like the consequences of
each career choice. Personal preference will
intervene again.
In choosing a career, the student should attempt to
achieve the best fit between his/her personal
abilities and ambitions, and the properties involved
in the career. One has to be prepared to achieve an
acceptable level of satisfaction from the combination
of circumstances and properties in a job situation.
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The Career that best suits the individual

Tourism careers are to be found at four levels:
1. As a private entrepreneur, operating one’s own
business.
2. As an employee in the private sector, working
for others
3. As an employee of government which has an
overall responsibility for planning and
promotion of tourism
4. As an employee of quasi-government
organizations or international; organizations.
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Job Categories in the Tourism Industry
There are four basic job categories in the tourism

industry. These are:
1. Operational (front-line) employees
2. Supervisory personnel
3. Management
4. Senior Executive
Most tourism professional fall into one of the four
categories listed above. Placement will be
dependent on the level of training, education,
experience and attitude.
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Large Chain Operation - Advantages

Sandals Montego Bay
• Better training:
▫ you gain valuable additional
education and experience in
these big companies with large,
sophisticated operating systems.
• Advancement
opportunities:
▫ more units mean more
opportunities to climb within
the current operation or in
another operation within the
chain.
• Better benefits:
▫ life and health insurance, more
generous vacation or sick time,
or stock purchase options
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Small Independent Operation - Advantages
• Greater creativity:
▫ more chances to set standards and initiate change.
• More career control:

▫ more opportunities for personal relationships with the
people who can aid your career growth.
• Better learning environments:

▫ wider range of responsibility means greater depth of
knowledge and more hands-on training, more
entrepreneurial training.
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Lodging Industry Career Opportunities

After acquiring the appropriate education and training,
you can work in the lodging industry as a(n):
 General Manager
 Catering Manager
 Chief Engineer
 Food & Beverage Manager
 Controller
 Human Resources Manager
 Marketing/Sales manager
 Resident Manager
 Information Technology (IT) Manager
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Food Service Industry Career

Opportunities
After acquiring the appropriate education and training,
you can work in the food service industry as a:
 General Manager
 Dining Room Manager
 Beverage Manager
 Kitchen Manager
 Chef
 Maitre d’
 Banquet Manager
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Clubs & Cruise Ships Career Opportunities

Country Club
• Clubs offer these positions:
▫ General Manager
▫ Food & Beverage Manager
▫ Catering Manager
▫ Controller
• Cruise Ships have on-shore
and on-sea positions in these
areas:
▫ Marketing
▫ Accounting
▫ Provisioning
▫ Itinerary planning
▫ Hotel operations
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• Get education, training or other experience to

supplement your qualifications.
• Consider getting a degree related to tourism or travel
from a college (university) or obtaining a certificate
from a vocational school.
• Rely on prior job experience to transfer to an identical
or similar job in the travel/tourism industry.
Receptionists, for instance, can work in many career
fields, including tourism.
• Volunteer or do an internship for an organization
related to travel or tourism. Examples include a
chamber of commerce or a local visitors' attraction in
your area.
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Career Ladder in Hospitality Industry
A career ladder or path shows the sequence of

jobs a management trainee may take in a
hospitality operation:
A typical career ladder in a large hotel may take
this sequence:
Front Office Manager Trainee
Guest Services Manager
Assistant Front Office Manager
Front Office Manager
Director of Operations
General Manager
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Summary
• Most segments of the hospitality industry are
projected for continued growth in the number of
management positions
• Opportunity to advance as companies grow
• Some segments are greatly outpacing the
average
• New and emerging segments of the industry
• Growth in franchise opportunities
• Increasing interest in food and travel as
population ages
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Employees are looking for:

Dedication and commitment
Desire to serve others
Decision making skills
Communication skills
Experience
Involvement
Technical skills
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References
• http://www.open.edu.au/careers/tourism

Careers in Tourism

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CAREERS IN TOURISM

victorine mcdaniel 12/17/2020

• Tourism is a diverse industry which offers long-

victorine mcdaniel 12/17/2020

• The tourism industry can be divided into career

victorine mcdaniel 12/17/2020

• From operational positions to management and

victorine mcdaniel 12/17/2020

• The Tourism industry makes up a significant

victorine mcdaniel 12/17/2020