The hospitality industry needs a heterogenous workforce
DEMAND Innovation in the hospitality industry means greater job opportunities
Our world is getting ever more connected, not just through the internet, we can fly to pretty much any country we can point on the map today. The advent of the internet has helped democratize how travel and tourist services are rendered to people, even on their mobile devices.
Travelling requires a lot of back-end and front-end services to be performed. The hospitality industry is dependent on a vast number of skilled operators to make travel and accommodation smooth.
The travel & tourism industry makes up 9.8 % of global GDP, and it’s still growing. Responsible for one out of every eleven jobs worldwide, the industry is the world’s largest employer according to the World Tourism Organization UNWTO.
With cutting edge technologies such as the internet, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning and easily available capital from private firms and local governments alike, hundreds of small and medium businesses are cropping up in the hospitality industry. As a result, the dire need for skilled manpower is clearly established.
Skills are in great demand and will be so for the foreseeable future. In the travel and tourism industry, the impact of globalization and automation is clearly felt. Automation can replace back end service providers, but is it sophisticated to replace service providers at airports, hotels, motels, casinos and cruise ships? Can we imagine a massive cruise ship sailing from South Africa to Mauritius carrying about a thousand passengers, all served by robots and automated interfaces? Not quite. As more services are replaced by automation, the need for properly skilled workforce to serve travelers is at its zenith today. The basic skill sets required to become successful in the hospitality industry are a) excellent communication and b) a penchant and willingness to serve customers with passion. The irony is that communication can be drilled into anybody, but the passion to work in the industry (on ships, world class hotels, unique vacation homes, and on cruise ships and casinos) should be developed from within.
There are a number of reputed and proven institutions around the country who train and certify hundreds and thousands of youngsters to be job ready in the hospitality industry. Certain institutions remain keen on the ebbs and flows of demand and adequately alter their training curriculum to give the best possible education to their students. It is ideal to conduct thorough research and participate in university or institutional support communities to find out the real value of a said educational institution.
However, the industry generates a ton of indirect jobs as well. Right from upstarts who create the world beating software products to deliver services on the internet. Think of Airbnb, they understood the demand for affordable accommodations and leveraged extra living spaces in people’s homes and turned them into cheap and unique accommodations for travellers and as a revenue generating commodity for property owners.
The indirect job market is primarily driven by innovation in today’s context and we need to keep a keen eye to welcome more positive disruption in the industry.
With great demand comes a need for great movement up the ladder in this industry. Each business entity in this industry works in a strategic way and creates roles with mixed and innovative responsibilities to a) provide top class service to custom- ers and b) reduce their overhead costs at the same time. This sheer determination to achieve both aspects has given a tremendous opportunity for the workforce to be trained and deployed to take various responsibilities, and earn that extra income as well.
What this means, is that there is a tremendous demand for skilled, passionate, and a versatile workforce who will be paid handsomely for the hard work in such an innovative industry. Read this to find the ten most interesting roles you can undertake in the travel and tourism industry today.
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