No matter how hard we try, some of us just aren’t cut out for the whole 9-5 deal. The office is stuffy, the computer screen is blinding, and the standard two weeks of vacation time just isn’t enough.
Truthfully, even two months of vacation time still wouldn’t be enough. In a perfect world, we’d be able to travel half the year and work during the other half. Or, better yet, we’d somehow be able to travel while working. In such a world, we’d be going from foreign city to foreign city, discovering new people and places all year round, all the while earning a regular salary. Sounds too good to be true, right? Wrong!
The best way to tie your need to earn money with your incessant need to see the world is to build a career in the tourism industry. Tourism has existed for hundreds of years, and although the industry is completely different than what it once was, the enthusiasm of the adventurous traveller is still, and always will be, sky high. But what does a career in tourism mean exactly? Well, there are so many different avenues to take that there is no one way to answer that question.
The first types of jobs that come to mind when you think of travel are those of pilots or flight attendants. These are great career paths to pursue, but don’t be fooled into thinking that those are the only options out there. Although airplanes make for a lovely and exciting work setting, many tourism careers can be done on ground-level.
- Hospitality Operations
- Hospitality & Resort Management
- Hospitality & Tourism Management
- Hospitality Cruise Business
- Travel & Tourism Business Management
- Travel Agent
While these positions are very different from each other, they all require three fundamental qualities:
1) Event planning skills
2) Management skills
3) Openness to discover the world
Most tourism schools will integrate management and event planning courses into their programs. I know the third quality may come off as quite cheesy, but the key to a successful career in travel and tourism is keeping an open mind. A city that is red-flagged one day can be pegged as a “hot spot” the next. It is really up to the tourism industry to seek and explore new places, and promote them to the general public. Tourism professionals have the opportunity to take the lead on which direction the industry takes. It is just a matter of them being open to new possibilities, hence the importance of that third quality.
