Matchless glamour of the tourism industry
For young people anxious to see the world, the travel and tourism business  the world’s largest industry  offers glamour and excitement which few industries can match
It’s the world’s largest industry generating a global revenue estimated at $13 trillion and direct employment for 204 million people worldwide. Besides for young people anxious to see the world, the travel and tourism business offers glamour and excitement, which few industries can match.In 2006, the number of tourist arrivals into India crossed 4.47 million, earning the country foreign exchange estimated at Rs.29,000 crore. India’s outward bound tourism growth which gathered momentum in 1991 following liberalis-ation and deregulation of the Indian economy, has been much more spectacular and is estimated at 8 million currently. Moreover according to projections made by Euromonitor International, the number of tourists travelling out of India will rise to 16.3 million by 2011.
Unsurprisingly, India’s tourism and related industries offer exciting career paths. There’s an acute shortage of trained professionals with the result that there’s a huge demand for freshers too, with travel and tourism firms ready to dedicate time and money to train them.
In India there are plentiful employment opportunities in the tourism departments of the Central and state governments as also in public and private sector firms. Inevitably, qualified tourism professionals are drawn to private employers  travel agencies, package tour operators, airlines, hotels, cargo and courier agencies, and tourism promotion boards of countries, all of whom offer excellent pay and perks packages.
Professional certification in travel and tourism is available in the form of postgraduate diploma and degree programmes (duration of one to two years) provided by several government institutes and universities across the country. Among the most reputable are the Indian Institute of Tourism and Travel Management, Gwalior, administered by the Union ministry of tourism which offers a three-year degree course; the Indian Institutes of Tourism and Travel Management in New Delhi, Calicut and Chennai; Kurukshetra University; Pondicherry University; University of Delhi; University of Mumbai, among others.
The better private sector institutes offering diploma programmes are: Institute of Hotel Cargo and Tourism Management (IHCTM), Mumbai; Trade Wings Institute of Managers; SNDT Women’s University, Mumbai; Sophia Polytechnic, Mumbai and South Polytechnic, New Delhi. The most recent entrant into travel and tourism education is the Kuoni Academy of Travel with seven centres in Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Jaipur and Bhopal.
Moreover postgraduate courses in tourism and guiding are offered by Kurukshetra University and chapters of the Indian Institute of Tourism and Travel Management (IITTM), Delhi.
This fast-track industry offers attractive remuneration and perquisite packages which include free travel for employees en famille. For freshers, remuneration ranges from Rs.6,000-12,000 per month, rising to Rs.2.5-3 lakh after two years and Rs.5-7 lakh after four-six years experience. For those with more than nine years, Rs.10-15 lakh per year is par for the course.
"India is one of the world’s fastest growing markets in leisure and business travel. But unfortunately, the supply of trained manpower is far short of demand. By 2010, it’s estimated there’ll be 11 million jobs available in travel and tourism in India with the major employers being airline companies, travel agencies, travel call centres, back offices of airline companies and tourism boards of various countries," predicts Subhash Motwani, director of IHCTM, and Compact Travels Pvt Ltd, Mumbai.
A member of the Institute of Hospitality (MIH), UK and recepient of 22 IATA qualifications with 20 years of teaching experience, Motwani started working with the Institute of Hotel, Cargo and Tourism Management, part of the RBCS group of institutes founded by his father. Simultaneously he studied for a B.Com degree in HR College, Mumbai and graduated in 1988. Since then he has pressed on to acquire a string of 22 diplomas and certificates from IATA, UFTAA, FIATA and British Airways and has also learned German, Spanish, French and Italian.
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otwani who heads the faculty of IHCTM claims that the institute has the "unique distinction" of being the first training centre worldwide, authorised to offer all four levels of the new IATA/UFTAA programme from foundation to senior management level, and the first training centre to offer seven IATA qualifications including the three-level IATA/FIATA programmes. IHCTM trains about 300 students per year with the duration of study progra-mmes ranging from two to 24 months. IHCTM students have an additional advantage. They have the option to intern with Compact Travels, an affiliated travel agency promoted by Motwani in 2004, which is also a destination tourism management company.
"As the world becomes smaller because of better connectivity and rising interest in trans-cultural interaction, travel and tourism and related industries are the growth areas of the future. This is the industry which offers fun, travel to exotic locations, chances to meet interesting people around the world and respectable pay packages as well. This is where the action is," says Motwani.
Indra Gidwani (Mumbai)