Travel, Tourism And Hospitality Sector: A Transformative Phase
Sharad Kulshreshtha, Assistant Professor Sikkim University
Travelling is an ancient phenomenon. Human beings are travelling since civilization for in search of food and shelter. In the present context this phenomenon is still continued for various reasons like, personal, social, economic, and political. When travelling is associated with lei-sure, pleasure and recreation for a particular destination for at least minimum of 24 hours, it is called as tourism. Tourism and hospitality is an industry that creates a huge employment and also considered as engine of economic growth for inclusiveness. A sound economic condition, rapidly growing purchasing power, technological innovation, advanced transport mobility, introduction of GST regime etc. are some of the reforms that augmented the growth of travel and hospitality industry in India. According to UNWTO World Tourism Barometer estimates, worldwide international tourist arrivals (overnight visitors) have increased by 6% with 1.4 billion in 2018, which is more than the 3.7% growth registered in the global economy. Besides, there are exponential growths in millennial travelers. With the rise in millennial travelers, who are actually driving transformation by redefining luxury in the hospitality industry, the segment is up for a change. Now destinations are more accessible due to better connectivity, visa facilitation, strong outbound from emerging markets, fuel prices stability, low cost air travel and accommodation, smart communication technology to create platform for B2B, B2C, and effective infrastructural growth etc.
Technological advancement has revolutionized the service delivery pattern of tourism & hospitality sector throughout the world. New market dynamics are also affecting the consumer behavior. They are very prompt to adopt this change. Travel agencies, hotels and aviation sector is now more focused by investing in technologies i.e. artificial intelligence, clouds, big data, and mobile applications (apps) which help them to enrich the customer's experience. With the advent of disruptive change across tourism and hospitality sector there are many new start-ups coming to existence. The shift to experience has given rise to diruptive business models as tourists search for the genuine experiences. The peer-to-peer accommodation and travel platforms such as Airbnb, Home Away, OYO, OLA, and UBER are some word of mouth examples in this industry. These emerging technological changes have forced the transformation mechanism in the tourism and hospitality business from traditional to more technology centric for better understanding of the market need and consumer ease.
“The Tourism and Hospitality Skill Council is promoted by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) with inclusive representation of the Government, Industry, Industry Associations and Training Institutes across India”
In addition, the tourists prefer to stay in those hotels which follow sustainable green practices for optimizing energy conservation in the hotels. Regarding the capacity building, training, education and research in this field, now a days, many central, state & private universities and colleges are offering certificate, diploma, bachelor and master programmes with various nomenclature such as MBA travel and Tourism, MTTM, BTTM, BA (Voc) in travel tourism and hospitality throughout the country. For the hospitality education, there are 29 Institutes of Hotel Management (IHMs), comprising 21 Central IHMs and 8 State IHMs, and 5 Food Craft Institutes (FCIs), which have come up with the support of the Ministry. The Indian Institute of Tourism and Travel Management under Ministry of Tourism, Government of India, is one of the Asia's leading institutes in the country offering cutting edge professional education, training and research in the field of tourism, travel sector. The IITTM has its headquarter at Gwalior with centres at Bhubaneswar, Noida. Goa, Nellore, Bodh Gaya, and Shillong. Apart from this, the Tourism and Hospitality Skill Council is promoted by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) with inclusive re-presentation of the Government, Industry, Industry Associations and Training Institutes across India.
THSC is created by the Industry and for the Industry to undertake the skilling of mass human resource for the industry requirement. There are tremendous career opportunities in tourism sector i.e. tour guiding, travel agencies, online travel agencies, tour operation, tour marketing, business travel and MICE operation, in the aviation service, private airlines, ground handling staff, booking and reservation at terminals, ground staff operations at airports, In flight staff, airhostesses, flight stewards, in the event management, convention planning and management, Special interest tourism, Eco, adventure, rural, film, golf, wildlife, religious, culture, tourism expert, transport operation and management, vacation holiday consultant, cargo and logistics operations, luxury cruise liners, tourism departments in government sectors etc. to name some. In the hotel sector, these opportunities are linked with star and luxurious hotels, restaurants, resorts, Inns, guest houses and also with low cost budget hotels. There are many functional areas in hotel as per the specialization, operations, front office, housekeeping, food and beverages, food production, sales and marketing, public relation, and security. With these avenues in tourism and hospitality sector, it has become a lucrative option for the students and institutions as well.
Technological advancement has revolutionized the service delivery pattern of tourism & hospitality sector throughout the world. New market dynamics are also affecting the consumer behavior. They are very prompt to adopt this change. Travel agencies, hotels and aviation sector is now more focused by investing in technologies i.e. artificial intelligence, clouds, big data, and mobile applications (apps) which help them to enrich the customer's experience. With the advent of disruptive change across tourism and hospitality sector there are many new start-ups coming to existence. The shift to experience has given rise to diruptive business models as tourists search for the genuine experiences. The peer-to-peer accommodation and travel platforms such as Airbnb, Home Away, OYO, OLA, and UBER are some word of mouth examples in this industry. These emerging technological changes have forced the transformation mechanism in the tourism and hospitality business from traditional to more technology centric for better understanding of the market need and consumer ease.
“The Tourism and Hospitality Skill Council is promoted by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) with inclusive representation of the Government, Industry, Industry Associations and Training Institutes across India”
In addition, the tourists prefer to stay in those hotels which follow sustainable green practices for optimizing energy conservation in the hotels. Regarding the capacity building, training, education and research in this field, now a days, many central, state & private universities and colleges are offering certificate, diploma, bachelor and master programmes with various nomenclature such as MBA travel and Tourism, MTTM, BTTM, BA (Voc) in travel tourism and hospitality throughout the country. For the hospitality education, there are 29 Institutes of Hotel Management (IHMs), comprising 21 Central IHMs and 8 State IHMs, and 5 Food Craft Institutes (FCIs), which have come up with the support of the Ministry. The Indian Institute of Tourism and Travel Management under Ministry of Tourism, Government of India, is one of the Asia's leading institutes in the country offering cutting edge professional education, training and research in the field of tourism, travel sector. The IITTM has its headquarter at Gwalior with centres at Bhubaneswar, Noida. Goa, Nellore, Bodh Gaya, and Shillong. Apart from this, the Tourism and Hospitality Skill Council is promoted by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) with inclusive re-presentation of the Government, Industry, Industry Associations and Training Institutes across India.
THSC is created by the Industry and for the Industry to undertake the skilling of mass human resource for the industry requirement. There are tremendous career opportunities in tourism sector i.e. tour guiding, travel agencies, online travel agencies, tour operation, tour marketing, business travel and MICE operation, in the aviation service, private airlines, ground handling staff, booking and reservation at terminals, ground staff operations at airports, In flight staff, airhostesses, flight stewards, in the event management, convention planning and management, Special interest tourism, Eco, adventure, rural, film, golf, wildlife, religious, culture, tourism expert, transport operation and management, vacation holiday consultant, cargo and logistics operations, luxury cruise liners, tourism departments in government sectors etc. to name some. In the hotel sector, these opportunities are linked with star and luxurious hotels, restaurants, resorts, Inns, guest houses and also with low cost budget hotels. There are many functional areas in hotel as per the specialization, operations, front office, housekeeping, food and beverages, food production, sales and marketing, public relation, and security. With these avenues in tourism and hospitality sector, it has become a lucrative option for the students and institutions as well.
