What can you do with a Tourism Management degree?

Tourism is considered to be a unique industry that offers attractive job opportunities to individuals who want to apply their skills and knowledge in challenging environments across the world.

People who are a part of this industry may work outdoors or indoors, have a fixed or flexible schedule and may work all-year-round or seasonally. This makes tourism management a diverse and offbeat career path. There are a variety of jobs in the tourism industry you can take up, after a master’s in tourism management so let’s take a look at this blog to find out more.

How to start your career in the tourism industry?

Nowadays, people are interested to join the tourism industry for a variety of reasons, such as:

• Variety of career opportunities available with attractive salary packages
• It is one of the largest industries in the world with a contribution of approximately seven trillion Euros to the global economy in 2017
• The tourism industry is open to constant innovation as well as sharing interesting ideas
• Quicker advancement opportunities
• Skills obtained while working in this industry are transferable and can be implemented in multiple sectors

One of the most popular methods of joining this industry is to complete a tourism course. A tourism degree will provide students with in-depth knowledge related to essential management concepts, how these concepts are applied to the tourism industry, solving problems and taking critical decisions in the tourism industry.

If you want to join this industry, it is suggested that you apply for a degree in tourism management. In a tourism management course, students will get to learn the following modules:

• Tourism and Hospitality Business Strategy
• Strategic Approach in Marketing Planning for Hospitality and Tourism
• Entrepreneurship in Tourism
• Business Decision-making for Hospitality and Tourism

Upon completion of this degree, you can apply for a variety of careers in tourism that are explained in the following section.

Top career options after earning a tourism management degree

Tour Manager

Tour managers are responsible for ensuring that travellers have a smooth holiday. They also have to use their management skills to ensure all the travel arrangements are carried out without any hitch. In case they have in-depth knowledge about the area the travellers are visiting, tour managers may even act as tour guides. Tour managers have more responsibilities:

• Planning the entire tour for the travellers
• Check the travellers’ documents to ensure everything is in order
• Provide information to the travellers vis-à-vis itineraries, places to visit and culture of the place they are visiting
• Ensure smooth entry to tourist attractions
• Help the travellers to check-in into their accommodations
• Handle any form of emergencies that may arise
• Prepare reports and maintain travellers’ records

Travel Agency Manager

Travel agency managers work in retail travel outlets that promote and sell travel-related items and holiday packages. Travel agencies can be start-ups or even multinational corporations. Travel agencies may specialise in travel products, knowledge of exotic locations, business travel, cultural travel, etc. While working as a travel agency manager, it is critical for you to provide customers with specialist travel products to meet their demands include customised vacations and online bookings. Travel agency managers have a variety of responsibilities. Let’s take a look at some of them:

• Market and promote the agency
• Maintain financial records and ensure the budget is not exceeded
• Sell holiday packages and travel products
• Implement innovative ideas for business growth
• Coordinate with travel partners to provide travellers with a seamless experience
• Ensure the business is running efficiently without any problems

Hotel Manager

A hotel manager is in charge of the day-to-day handling of a hotel and its staff. Hotel managers are also accountable for planning, ordering and directing hotel services such as food and beverage operations, concierge, reservations and housekeeping, as well as carrying out operations related to financial management and budgeting. Hotel managers usually have to work long hours and they have plenty of responsibilities:

• Marketing campaigns to promote the hotel and its services
• Hiring, training and observing the staff
• Determining and achieving goals related to sales and profit
• Analysing sales figures and preparing sales strategies according to the figures
• Overseeing furnishings, renovations, maintenance and supplies
• Preparing work schedules for individuals and the various departments

Event Manager

Event managers conceptualise, prepare and organise social, promotional and professional events like conferences, weddings, birthdays, exhibitions and seminars. They are in charge of managing the entire process, right from the planning phase to conducting the post-event assessment. This is a hands-on job role that also involves managing a large team at times. Event managers have a myriad of responsibilities that include:

• Interacting with clients to understand their requirements and expectations
• Create in-depth plans with regards to venue, staffing, budget, suppliers etc.
• Coordinate with the marketing and sales teams to promote the event
• Effectively managing the team and ensuring they carry out their tasks
• Ensuring the rules and regulations related to safety, insurance and legal are followed
• Arranging car-parking, hospitality, first-aid, security and hospitality facilities for the event

Public Relations (PR) Manager

A job in PR is all about managing your client’s reputation, as well as influencing behaviour and opinions. PR managers use a variety of communication methods to form, preserve and manage the reputation of their clients. The clients could be celebrities, governmental organisations, not for profit organisations and businesses. PR managers have the following job responsibilities:

• Developing and executing PR strategies
• Drafting press releases that will be released in the media
• Arranging events like press tours, exhibitions and press conferences
• Updating the correct information on social media platforms and interacting with the public on behalf of their clients
• Efficiently managing PR during crisis situations

If you have an outgoing and friendly personality, excellent communication and customer service skills and want to work in challenging and exciting environments, you should think about taking up the MA in International Tourism, Hospitality and Event Management offered by the Berlin School of Business and Innovation (BSBI).

Learn more about studying with BSBI.