Archive for the ‘Education’ Category
Career in Travel and Tourism Part – 1
Travel and Tourism one of the world’s largest foreign exchange earners among service industries provides employment directly to millions of people worldwide and indirectly through many associated service industries. A very wide industry, it includes Government tourism departments, Immigration and customs services, travel agencies, airlines, tour operators, hotels etc and many associated service industries such as airline catering or laundry services, Guides, Interpreters, Tourism promotion and sales etc. Travel and Tourism enterprises include major internationals with a workforce of thousands, to the small private travel agent with a handful of employees.
(a) The Prospects:
Being a very wide field, the scope of employment in tourism sector is very bright and the potential is still largely untapped. Career opportunities exist both in the public and private sector. In the public sector, there are opportunities in the Directorates and Departments of Tourism of the center and the state as Officers, information assistants, Tourist guides etc.
Good career prospects exist for qualified tourism professionals in the private sector with travel agencies, tour operators, airlines, hotels, transport and cargo companies, travel consultancy organisations etc. The opening up of the skies to private airlines and their emerging tie-ups with foreign airlines has removed bottlenecks in the transport and communication network resulting in easy flow of domestic and foreign tourists in the country. Since this is a new area of employment, not many qualified and experienced people are available and promotion prospects are also very bright and rapid.
After a few years of experience, one can also start their own business by handling all travel requirements of a client and gradually building up business, taking on additional employees.
(b) The Job:
Work in the travel and tourism industry is essentially concerned with providing services for people who are away from home, on business or holiday. Travel can be leisure associated travel involving package tours, pilgrimage travel, medical tourism, nature travel and adventure travel etc or purely business related. Work at every functional level in the industry involves dealing directly with people.
As travel agents, you will need to assess the needs of tourists and businessmen and help them make the best possible travel arrangements from the many travel options available. Also, many major cruise lines, resorts, and specialty travel groups use travel agents to promote travel packages to the millions of people who travel every year. Travel agency: Have four departments: Tours, Travel, Accounts and Cargo.
Tours management and operations deal in travel and destination management. The work pertains to packaged tours to destinations in India and abroad. Planning and arrangement of accommodation, food, transport and entertainment are the major areas of work. Tour operators plan the itinerary, make reservations and depute guides/representatives for accompanying the tour groups.
Travel agents have the information and know-how so as to make the best possible travel arrangements, with their clients’ preferences, budgets and other requirements. Their work involves provision of detailed information of routes, costs and other matters of interest.
For a trip abroad the agent also provides information on customs regulations, required papers (passports, visas, and certificates of vaccination) and the current currency exchange rates.
Cargo handling covers booking and recovery of Cargo from destinations connected by Air, rail or roads. The Accounts department handles the billing and recovery of money from parties / individuals seeking help.
Guides
Young graduates who have an aptitude in history and learning languages (especially foreign languages) could work as licensed guides. The Indian Institutes of Travel and Tourism Management (IITM) offer a course after which the person can be empanelled as a guide. This is a short duration course. Training in cultural tourism is very popular.
(C) Personality Traits:
1.) Good communication and presentation skills
2.) Good at customer service
3.) Outgoing
4.) Friendly personality
5.) Ability to handle people
6.) Verbal fluency
7.) Aptitude for languages will be advantageous
8.) Up-to-date knowledge of available facilities and services in the field
9.) Organizing ability
10.) Ability to make decisions
11.) Solve problems
12.) Work effectively within a team
(D) Salary:
Jobs in the travel and tourism industry offer good remuneration and perquisites, which include free travel for employees and their families. Salaries may vary within the industry and are higher in foreign airlines and agencies. Basic Pay scales at different levels are approximately:
1.) Assistant Rs.10,000-12,500
2.) Junior Executive Rs.13,000-15,500
3.) Regional Manager Rs.18,800 –20,000
4.) General Manager Rs.23,000-26,000
Regional guides: Their charges may range from Rs400 and above for an eight hour day. They may earn between Rs.30,000-40,000 or more in the three to four months of the tourist peak season.
To know more about other relevant information about Career in Travel and Tourism, read the Second Part (2) of this article.
Teach Yourself to Play Violin to Avoid Teacher’s Costs
A lot of people wanted some sort of accomplishment that is set above the average person. Each of us have our unique capacities and talents that make us different yet beautifully blended. Just like an orchestra, one plays the piano, another on a saxophone, on cello, on violin and all other classical instruments that gives off a classical blend of beautiful sounds that resonate on the hearts of its listeners. Well as talents go, music is the sole aspect in which most people are not inclined especially when we talk about playing a classic instrument like the violin. Playing the violin is a great and some might say a grand feat to do, since rarely does a person knows how to play one. The violin is a complex instrument that needs a long time to master and requires intensive training on a person’s part especially if you are a beginner. And when one talks about intensive, it usually means hours of practice of everyday, a lot of efforts and very lengthy patience. That is why although people perceive the violin as an interesting instrument, many still finds it daunting. Also the cost of hiring instructors and expert violinist is not an inviting thought either especially if you don’t have the means. But if you are a person who enjoys challenges towards a fruitful outcome then this might be good news to you. Though you might not need to pay people to instruct you but you do have to buy the violin though.
So the good news is that you can learn to play the violin even without having to pay for expensive violin lessons. How would you do that? Well with the use of your personal computer and some internet connection you can teach yourself to play violin in a cheaper yet still effective way than signing up for violin lessons. There are various online programs that help you to learn the violin in the confines of your home. Online violin programs allow you to learn in the way you are comfortable and at your own pace. As a beginner you might first feel inadequate and anxious of learning it faster, and that is how online violin instruction can help you with, maybe not with the fast part but definitely alleviate your anxiety and frustrations by taking a practice-free day that you can’t usually do in a tutorial or a private violin lesson. So to teach yourself to play violin is only possible when you go online.
How To Learn Business English Effectively
Are you learning English for Business? Congratulations. Improving your language skills can be a great way to move into a better job or even get the job you’ve been dreaming of for a long time. But, have you asked yourself this very important question? Exactly what business are you studying for? This is a question many English language learners never really ask!
You see the language we use changes depending on the situation. The type of business, the work environment, and many other factors will influence the language used in one business from another. Of course some of the language and communication purpose stays the same, but a lot is different. This isn’t really too hard to understand, but lets look at a simple example to really clarify what I’m talking about here.
Imagine two people who work for different companies in different industries. One works for http://yahoo.com as a programmer in the internet industry, and another works as a check-in attendant for British Airways in the airline transportation industry. Both require business English, but quite clearly the language the programmer uses to talk with “The Boss” will be very different from the language the check-in attendant uses.
You won’t hear the programmer asking a client “Do you want an aisle or window seat?” very often. Nor will you find an airline attendant telling his or her supervisor that the latest sub-routine has a bug in it that is causing client’s computers to crash. This just makes simple sense. The work you do, the place you work, and the people you work with will all affect the language that you use on a daily basis.
So, when you are studying English for business purposes, you need to remember a very important thing. You need to study the general business English that will be common in most business situations, but you also need to focus on the language that is specific to the business world that you will be working in.
Doing both of these is critical to your success. If you can’t use the language of your industry because you don’t really know it, you will have a very hard time getting (or keeping) a job.