After going through a tough period during the pandemic, the global travel and tourism industry is looking to bounce back in the post-pandemic world. The global market is set to surpass USD 8.9 trillion by 2026 growing at 3.1 percent CAGR from 2021 to 2026. The same can be said for India with the Indian travel market expected to reach USD 125 billion by FY27. With India set to host next years’ G-20 meeting which will be organized across multiple states and cities, the central as well as state governments are investing heavily on developing its infrastructure.  Further elucidating on the importance of improving our infrastructure, G Kamala Vardhan Rao, Director General, Ministry of Tourism said, “We should collectively work to ensure that new destinations come up with basic infrastructure. Whichever department is investing in the infrastructure and services sector, it is tourism which is the beneficiary”.             

All these are positive signs for both the Indian travel and tourism market and aspiring candidates who are aiming to start/build their careers in this industry. With that said, a recent study has found that in order to ensure better quality travel and tourism education, educators should be capable of offering education in different modalities. This can not only help to tackle the education gap created by the pandemic but it will also allow the students to be better prepared for future uncertainties.  

With the Indian travel and tourism education sector at a crucial crossroads, let’s dive deep into the trends that can shape the future landscape of this domain.          

More student-centric programs

The lack of student-centric courses has plagued all major higher education streams in India which has led to drastic skill gaps. And according to the latest survey conducted by Wheelbox, in India, only 48.7 percent of youth is employable. To tackle this issue in the travel and tourism education segment, educators are coming up with new and innovative courses that can enhance the skill-level of the students in niche areas.

Dr M Sajnani who holds the office of Director at Amity Institute of Travel and Tourism said that they are working on restructuring their curriculum to keep abreast with the changing industry requirements. At the same time, Amity is aiming to introduce new courses such as digital marketing of services and products related to the tourism industry. Some of the other niche certification courses, they are aiming to launch includes tour guiding, wildlife guide, and heritage guide.

Increasing accessibility to quality education

For multiple decades, the lack of accessibility to quality travel and tourism education has been a major concern for educators and policy makers alike. To solve this issue, Ministry of Tourism launched the “Hunar se Rozgar" scheme that aims to train and up-skill the youth who come from financially weaker sections of the society and create skilled manpower in the hospitality sector. Through the “Hunar se Rozgar" scheme, the government is aiming to train nearly 65,000 students and under this initiative, IHM Goa has trained more than 1000 people. Not only does the learners get free training, they are also offered meals, uniforms and stipends between 1500/- and 2000/- monthly for their incidental expenses. And after the completion of their course, these students are awarded a certificate that has pan-India acceptance.    

Sustainable tourism  

Sustainability has found its way to almost all industry verticals and the tourism industry is no different. Owing to the growing importance and demand for environment-friendly tourism, educators have created advanced sustainable tourism programs that allow the learner to understand and work on tourism industry issues related to conservation of the environment and ecological responsibility. Typically, under these programs, students will learn more about topics including waste and natural resource management, and biodiversity. Students can also work on projects related to the improvement of conservation practices pertaining to tourism. For aspiring students, there are now multiple sustainable tourism courses available including Masters in International Sustainable Tourism Management, MSc Management and Sustainable Tourism, and MBA in Sustainable Tourism. After your education, there are immense career opportunities in sustainable tourism as well, starting from planning, to managing projects, and nature tourism management to public relations.     

Freelance educators breaking the mold

Over the last two years, digitization has transformed the travel and tourism education space. Now, individual educators are cutting the middlemen by uberizing their profession and offering their courses directly in popular online learning platforms such as Coursera, Khan Academy, and Udacity. The fact that Coursera recorded 20 million new registrations in 2021 alone goes to show the increasing acceptance for online learning. Various reports also state that India’s freelance community will grow to a USD 20-30 billion industry and add $2.7 trillion to the global GDP by 2025. Owing to this, many believe that, travel and tourism education is not far away from freelance educators offering plug-in/ pay-as-you-go type of content.   

Multiple studies forecast that the travel and tourism industry will create more than 45 million jobs by 2025 in India. The changing travel trends ranging from revenge travels/revenge tourism to staycations have given new hopes to the industry which took almost a USD 4.5 trillion hit globally during the pandemic. And with new aspiring professionals entering the market equipped with a better understanding of the industry as well as its uncertainties, the travel and tourism domain is aiming to make impressive strides once again.