Aviation & Tourism: The Future of Tomorrow

By Dr Mahesh Uniyal

Career prospects in aviation and tourism are truly bright for students who want to enjoy the world and make the best use of their passion. 

Do you want to become a friend or philosopher or photographer or a frequent traveler or host or guide? Or do you wish to enjoy all these roles being a gypsy soul? If yes, then the best thing you can do is to join the ever-increasing tourism industry and carve a niche career for yourself. The tourism industry is experiencing a boom and the professionals working in it are in a lucrative position to capitalize most on the trend of travel obsession among people of all age groups and socio-economic backgrounds.

For those who love exploring places, embracing diverse cultures and meeting people from across the world, a course related to tourism can give them a chance to enjoy the world and make the best use of their passion by converting it in to a great career. India is a huge tropical country and is well known for its diverse cultural and climatic features. India’s travel and tourism industry has been showing a remarkable growth and positioning over the last few years, incredibly taking the country to the 40th rank in the Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Report 2017. India has become one of the world’s promising tourist destinations with large number of visitors each year.

Tourism industry is totally different when we compare with medical & engineering sectors. Medical and engineering sector has gained popularity as students realized their job potential and future growth. In the same way, tourism sector is slowly becoming mature in terms of job security, salary, satisfaction and future growth.

Would you believe that the Tourism industry employs around 300 million people directly or indirectly through associated service sectors! In India alone, this industry is supposed to create around 46 million jobs opportunities by 2025. The government’s initiative in this field is uncovering a bright future for those who want their careers in this field.

Prospects in the tourism industry are truly bright for someone with the right attitude. These days, even consultancy research companies like Deloitte are hiring the students from tourism background. Simply because these Tourism courses smarten up your ability to think and create solutions and give the opportunities to youngsters to become entrepreneur, travel writer or travel photographer. Travel based channels are also looking for the tourism professionals who have deep knowledge about the destination, local cuisine and lesser known attractions. Multinational travel companies like Cox & Kings, Thomas Cook have opened their doors for the students coming with degree or diploma in tourism.

Adventure tour companies require tourism professionals with the sound knowledge of technical aspects blended with the client handling. Wildlife, agri-tourism, rural tourism, safari and bird watching are some niche areas where students can get jobs as their preferences. As far as salary package is concerned, it generally starts from Rs 1.8 lakh per year and goes up to Rs 7-8 lakhs per year depending on your experience. Companies like Make My Trip, Trip Adviser also pay bonuses to their staff which is again a wonderful boost to one’s career.

Talking about Aviation, it is the business of the freedom aspiring to bring people together. It connects business and brings goods to the markets, allowing economies and societies to prosper. Nearly 63 million jobs around the world are directly supported by Aviation Industry. In India, over 400,000 people are directly a part of this industry. With the air passenger markets for India expected to exceed 500 million in 2037, which is more than three times the number today, we can expect the demand for qualified professionals to increase, in order to support this anticipated growth. Indigo, Spice Jet, Air Asia etc are some of the airlines where the ground handling staff and crew members are from the tourism background. Even the cruise companies are recruiting professionals with the knowledge of cross cultural handling.

In the past few years, the civil aviation industry in India has emerged as one of the fastest growing industries in the country. Having emerged as the third largest domestic aviation market in the world, India is likely to overtake UK to become the third largest air passenger market by 2024. India’s passenger traffic touched 308.75 million in FY18. During Apr 2018-Feb 2019, passenger traffic in India stood at 316.51 million with domestic passenger traffic contributing 252.92 million and international traffic accounting for 63.59 million.

This sector has been providing numerous job opportunities to graduates in India. Quality of the Aviation Institute from which you pursue the course has a bearing on career prospects and the possibility of landing a well-paying job. Some of most popular jobs in this sector include - Cabin crew, Ground staff, Office operators etc. Average starting salary is between Rs 2-4 Lakhs per year. One thing to note is that both these industries – tourism and aviation – prefer to hire graduates or post graduates with a degree or solid educational background in travel, tourism and aviation.

All these facts and figures point at one thing – your future is bright when you choose the right study program in tourism or aviation sector.

About the Author:

Dr Mahesh Uniyal

Dr Mahesh Uniyal is Associate Professor at Maharishi Markandeshwar Mullana (MMDU). He holds Master in Tourism Administration and Doctorate in Tourism Management from HNB Garhwal Central University, Srinagar, Uttrakhand. He has 18 years of experience in academics and Tourism Industry. He has over 12 quality research papers in National and International journals to his credit.