5 Major Benefits of a Travel and Tourism Degree
To secure many of the most fulfilling and lucrative careers around the world, you need to start by having a college degree. The right college degree can showcase your commitment to education, your training and your ability to follow through.
If you are interested in becoming a part of the travel, tourism or hospitality industries, a degree can be the most effective way to find a career you love.
While you can choose to major in any number of different subjects, here are five of the top reasons to consider earning your degree in travel and tourism.
1. Opportunities on a Global Scale
Perhaps the most common reason for students to earn a college degree in travel and tourism is because it can be the key to career opportunities on a global scale. If you have a passion for cooking, for example, this degree can help catapult you towards a culinary career on a cruise ship.
If you have always wanted to live in Europe, the degree could be what you need to run an English language hostel in Amsterdam or Paris.
2. Great Training for Hotel Positions
One of the biggest fields of employment in the hospitality and tourism industries is accommodation. Hotels, inns and bed and breakfast establishments provide work to millions of people around the world, and many of the top management positions in the field require a degree.
If you are interested in working at a world-class resort or a boutique city hotel and you have managerial aspirations, a travel and tourism degree can prepare you for the job.
3. Flexible Skill Sets Useful Across Multiple Industries
Earning a college degree in travel and tourism can help you in a number of different fields and industries. While you can take more traditional paths after graduation, you can also become an entrepreneur, work in sales or become a HR rep for a large corporation.
Learning about different groups of people, management and running a business are integral skills that can come in handy no matter what your future holds.
4. Smart Way to Boost Your Own Hospitality Business
If your goal is to one day open up your own hospitality business, earning a travel and tourism degree could end up being more functional than an entrepreneurship degree. Studying travel and tourism might be the perfect way to prepare for a career running your own bed and breakfast, operating a tour company, selling vacation packages as an independent travel agent or running a hip bar in a bustling city.
Wherever you can find tourists in large numbers, you can find successful entrepreneurs in the hospitality industry.
5. You Can Meet People From Around the World
If you love the idea of meeting people from around the world, hearing different languages and expanding your horizons, then working in travel and tourism is ideal. You’ll have the chance to mingle with tourists from all across the globe and make lasting connections with people from all walks of life.
Find out more about accredited colleges offering degrees in travel and tourism.
Top Careers in Travel and Tourism
Although most people enjoy traveling when they have the chance, there are some people who really have been bitten by the so-called, “travel bug.” If you are constantly dreaming of exotic destinations, planning trips to new spots around the globe and trying cuisine from different countries, then you might want to combine that passion with your college education.
Earning an associate or bachelor’s degree in travel and tourism can be the solid foundation you need to secure any one of the industry’s existing careers.
By studying subjects like tourism, hotel management, cultural relations and marketing, you will be eligible for one of the following 10 careers, each of which is a fantastic choice for those who love travel and meeting new people from around the world.
1. Travel Agent
This is the first career that most people think of when they imagine employment in the world of travel. Although online travel booking websites have significantly reduced the need for travel agents in today’s world, there is still a market for agents who can book business travel for large international companies or agents who specialize in a niche area of the world.
If you spent a year backpacking through Europe, then your recommendations might mean a lot to travelers ready to plan the same trip. Likewise, if you’ve been on more than a dozen cruises, then clients ready to plan their own getaway on the open seas can come to you for advice. You’ll work off of commission in this industry, so the more you book, the more money you take home at the end of the month.
2. Resort Manager
If you enjoy interacting with travelers from around the world and you have natural leadership abilities, then considering a career as a resort manager might be the best opportunity for you. A resort or hotel manager will typically oversee the day-to-day operations of the establishment.
These tasks could include hiring new employees, scheduling their shifts, dealing with customer complaints, handling the operating budget for the establishment or even marketing the resort to international travelers.
3. Hotel Events Coordinator
Many hotels make a large portion of their income from events, which could include weddings, parties or family reunions. A hotel events coordinator is the liaison between the hotel and the guests who are planning their event. A hotel events coordinator could be very involved in the process, and they may tackle jobs like finding a caterer, decorating the venue for the event and hiring a local photographer.
However, they may also take a more behind-the-scenes role and only answer questions or provide information to guests as needed. If you love working with all kinds of people and you have an interest in event planning, then this career might be a fantastic fit for your future.
4. Tour Guide
One of the best ways to see a new city or a new country is to participate in a guided tour. A guided tour gives guests an inside look at a new location, provides interesting tidbits and facts along the way and can feature a range of different themes depending on the group. Some cities offer ghost tours, foodie tours or architectural tours, among many other varieties.
If you are naturally outgoing and you have spent a lot of time exploring a particular city, you could become a tour guide. Although base salaries are often quite low, tips for tour guides can add up quickly.
5. Flight Attendant
If you are eager to see as many different places around the world as possible, then becoming a flight attendant might be the perfect solution. With a degree under your belt, you will be ready to handle the needs of passengers on planes flying to places as varying as Austin, Texas, or Paris, France.
This job requires the ability to communicate well with others and have plenty of patience, but the rewards include meeting people from all walks of life, traveling often and getting opportunities to fly for free on your days off from work.
6. Hotel Concierge
When guests at a hotel need to know where the nearest Greek restaurant is, how to walk to the train station or how much a typical cab might cost, the first person they ask is the concierge. A hotel’s concierge is the source of local knowledge for the immediate area surrounding the hotel, and the best ones in their field are friendly, outgoing and eager to please.
If you have strong ties to a particular city, know the area well and want to go above and beyond to please guests, then the role of hotel concierge is an obvious choice.
7. Bartender
Working as a bartender might not be the first travel career that comes to mind, but it can actually be a great way to pay for travel around the world. The skill is universal, and it can be used in Asia, Europe and North America and elsewhere across the globe. If you enjoy mingling with people and you are a night owl, then see the world as a bartender.
8. Cruise Ship Performers
Once you’ve completed a degree in travel and tourism, one of the careers you might want to pursue is that of cruise ship performer or entertainer. This role involves participating in the nightly performances onboard cruise ships, which might include dancing, singing, costume design or magic.
If you have a natural flair for performing and you would love to travel the seas and visit countless new destinations over a one or two-year contracted period, then this can be a dream career that lets you enjoy the best of the travel industry day in and day out.
9. Travel Writer
Earning a degree in travel or tourism can be a way to fine-tune your writing skills and prepare for a career of global exploration. As a travel writer, you can craft pieces for a travel magazine or for the column of a local newspaper, you could maintain a travel blog with tips for readers or you could work on writing your own travel book about a specific location.
With a degree in travel, tourism or hospitality earned through an online college or on a traditional college campus, you can take the world by storm. Each of these 10 careers is a fantastic way to earn a living while traveling the globe.
Earn A Master’s Degree in Sustainable Tourism
According to the World Tourism Organization, as quoted in US News & World Report, one in every 11 jobs is related to tourism. While that can translate to great news for the economy, rapid development of certain destinations is not always beneficial to the environment or the local culture.
To help balance the desire for travelers to see the world and the desire to help conserve the planet, the field of sustainable tourism was born. Find out more about this field as well as the six reasons that you might want to consider earning a master’s degree in sustainable tourism.
1. To Help the Planet
The study of sustainable tourism involves reconciling tourism-related development and practices that help to sustain and preserve the environment as a whole. Even if you love flying to exotic destinations, staying in world-class hotels or tasting fabulous new cuisines, you don’t have to be damaging the planet in the process.
Unfortunately, many tourism-based enterprises, especially those in less developed nations, place sustainability and long-term environmental concerns on the back burner in order to achieve more short-term financial success.
Those who study sustainable tourism at the master’s level will be in the incredible position of being able to make a true difference in the world.
Through your work in this increasingly important field, you might encourage a sprawling new hotel complex to build using green materials, you might encourage an island nation to preserve their coral reefs rather than allowing extensive commercial fishing, or you might be able to show development companies how they can embrace local culture without endangering the tenets that make it so remarkable in the first place.
2. To Enjoy New Career Opportunities
Of course, earning a master’s degree in sustainable tourism is also about preparing yourself for a fulfilling and meaningful career after graduation. With this major in hand, you might be employed by hotel corporations, development firms, construction companies, airlines, vacation package providers, restaurants and countless other industries that have an influence on the tourism business.
Just some of the career titles you might encounter after graduation could include the sustainability coordinator for a hotel chain, a manager for a state tourism agency, a director of an environmental non-profit agency, a lobbyist in Washington, D.C. or even an urban or regional planner for an international government.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, three percent of the careers in the United States are green, or environmentally-focused, and that number is only poised to grow, creating even more career opportunities that you can pursue after graduation.
3. To Explore Fascinating Subjects
On average, a master’s degree in this subject takes between one and two years to complete. The exact length of time will depend on where you earn the degree and whether you pursue it online or through a more traditional campus program.
Whatever avenue you opt for when earning your master’s degree, there is no question that the subject matter will be fascinating. Combining everything from management techniques to science, this degree is a very interesting option for those who are passionate about the world.
Just a few of the subjects you should expect to find on your syllabus might include sustainable tourism operations, sustainable travel, environmental science, transitioning to a low-carbon economy, corporate environment responsibility, water management, global tourism and quantitative methods in geography.
Of course, it is important to keep in mind that each college or university offers a slightly different curriculum to students, and it can differ from school to school and even from year to year.
4. To Increase Your Earning Potential
Another important reason to earn a master’s degree in sustainable tourism is for the increase in your earning potential. When you compare the overall lifetime wages of a person with a high school degree and a person with a master’s degree, you’ll find an average difference of 1.3 million dollars.
This is a hugely significant amount that can make or break a person’s financial stability and enjoyment over decades of working. Even if you already have a bachelor’s degree, it might surprise you to learn just how much of a salary bump you can expect once you have earned a master’s degree.
If you are worried about the cost of going back to school for that extra year, you shouldn’t be. A single year of work, study and dedication can translate to thousands of extra dollars each year, more stability in the workplace and the potential to secure better careers or even promotions in your existing line of work.
5. To See the World
Many students pursue the field of sustainable tourism because they truly want to see the world. While there are many degrees that can help you to travel extensively, sustainable tourism is definitely a smart choice.
This major deals often with international destinations rather than tourism hotspots in North America. As you put what you have learned into practice, it is not at all uncommon to complete research or internships overseas in the Pacific, in Asia or in Africa.
After graduation, you might even find that some of the most compelling and influential careers are located internationally, giving you the opportunity to integrate a fulfilling career into your love of travel.
6. To Meet Interesting New People
Finally, it is impossible to forget about the fact that careers in sustainable tourism can allow you to meet truly incredible individuals from across the globe.
As you learn more about the key ways to construct hotels without damaging coastlines, you might be introduced to leading hoteliers. As you teach fisherman ways to fish for local seafood for new tourism-based restaurants without over-harvesting the staples in their diet, you can see how local tribes live and how they conduct themselves in daily life.
You might meet politicians, head chefs, world travelers and everyone in between as you pursue your passions and investigate ways to make the planet a safer, greener and more attractive place to live.
Sustainable tourism is a growing field, and one that has the potential really make a difference in the world. If you are passionate about international culture, development, science and tourism, then pursuing a master’s degree in the field can be the ultimate way to prepare for a fulfilling career.