The travel and tourism industry is one of the world’s largest employers. New Zealand has a thriving travel and tourism industry with employment available as tour guides, porters, hotel receptionists, travel agents and consultants, hospitality occupations, sales and marketing, tourism operations and much more.
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Having a recognised qualification will greatly help you in obtaining employment in the travel and tourism industry. Along with a qualification such as a National Certificate or National Diploma, employers look for personal qualities such as a love for travel, being enthusiastic, friendly and outgoing, and displaying good personal presentation. Foreign language and cross-cultural skills are also an advantage.
Following are some popular career opportunities in travel and tourism.
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Retail Travel Agent
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Travel agent consultants arrange and sell travel products and services for travellers. Much time is spent speaking with customers to understand their travel needs and offering the best solutions. Customer service is very important in this role.
As well as dealing directly with customers, travel agents spend a lot of time on the phone with wholesalers obtaining quotes to put together travel itineraries. The agency will also provide information for you to research travel destinations so you can provide the best value to the customer.
Many travel agents will support part-time and job-share work arrangements and encourage employees to travel as a way of increasing their product and service knowledge.
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Corporate Travel Agent
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A corporate travel specialist arranges travel services for business travellers. This often includes airline tickets, accommodation and rental cars. Usually a corporate travel service aims to obtain special discounts.
The corporate travel environment can often be very busy with deadlines to meet and last minute work. Corporate travel agents need to be quick, efficient and organised. Good computer skills are essential for this position. Familiarisation trips to common business destinations are sometimes available.
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Wholesale Travel Agent
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Wholesale travel consultants plan and arrange travel itineraries. The role often includes selling vacation and cruise packages, making reservations for business and leisure travellers, interpreting schedules and brochures for the client, calculating fares and issuing tickets, preparing forms, and providing travel information by researching resource materials.
As with other travel agency roles, it is good to have an active interest in various cultures and world travel. You must enjoy working with people, be able to work under pressure and have attention to details.
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Airline Staff
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Working as an airline flight attendant affords you the opportunity to visit a variety of overseas destinations. Employers generally look for personal qualities such as a positive attitude, confidence, maturity and a friendly disposition and genuine interest in helping people and providing high quality customer service.
The job can be tiring due to long hours and varied schedules so resilience and commitment to perform well in demanding conditions are also important. Usually there are other requirements such as a minimum age of 21, medical fitness and a minimum height (to be able to reach emergency equipment on all aircraft types).
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Cruise Industry
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Positions with cruise lines include hotel personnel, food and beverage personnel, entertainers, administrative staff, or trainees for entry-level job positions. Working on a cruise ship allows you to experience many overseas countries, climates and locations.
Contracts are normally for six months and can be renewed. Career path advancement is possible as most cruise lines promote from within based on job performance. Unique features of this work include working with people from different nationalities, sharing a small cabin with others and adhering to strict ship rules.
You can expect to work seven days a week and the benefits include visiting exciting destinations, having room, board and meals paid for, allowing you to save a lot of money.
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Hotel Front Office
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Hotel front desk staff attend to the needs of guests on arrival and during their stay at the venue. They are responsible for liaising with travel agencies and transport companies to make travel arrangements. They also provide tourist information to guests, arrange other accommodation and deal with invoices and forms.
This role involves a lot of personal interaction with guests so staff need to be friendly, helpful and patient, as often guests have language limitations. Other attributes needed are being able to work in a team, flexibility and being able to have a professional manner at all times.
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Tour Guide
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Tour guides accompany domestic and international tourists on organised tours, attend to their needs and provide information. The work includes coordinating the activities of a tour group as it visits local attractions, and provide commentaries on points of interest. Training is usually provided.
Good people skills are vital for this role and being able to speak the language of the main tourist groups is a real advantage. Though the work can be physically demanding, tour guides get to visit many tourist attractions.
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