Career Opportunities - Tourism: Principles, Practices, Philosophies - page 53

executive of cer (CEO) of a major convention and visitors bureau must provide leadership to and
coordinate the efforts of a very diverse membership. Try to evaluate your physical and mental
attributes and skills to determine if you can perform.
To enhance your chances of getting a job and deciding if you would like it, visit several types of
tourist-related organizations. Watch the activities being performed. Talk to managers, supervisors, and
employees. Try to obtain an internship. Work experience means a great deal. Once you have had work
experience, you can utilize those skills in a wide variety of tourism enterprises in any number of
locations around the world.

CAREER POSSIBILITIES

Tourism today is one of the world is largest industries. It is made up of many segments, the principal

ones being transportation, accommodations, food service, shopping, travel arrangements, and
activities for tourists, such as history, culture, adventure, sports, recreation, entertainment, and other
similar activities. The businesses that provide these services require knowledgeable and imaginative
business managers.
Familiarity with tourism, recreation, business, and leisure equips one to pursue a career in a number
of tourism-related fields. Tourism skills are critically needed, and there are many opportunities
available in a multitude of fields.
Because tourism is diverse and complex and each sector has many job opportunities and career
paths, it is virtually impossible to list and describe all the jobs one might consider in this large field.
However, as a student interested in tourism, you could examine the following areas, many of which are
discussed in more detail in Chapters 5 to 8.
An effort has been made in the industry segments to provide a fairly comprehensive list of jobs,
including entry-level jobs requiring few skills. Entry jobs are listed because they are part of the tourism
industry and provide examples of the kinds of jobs managers will have the task of recruiting and
supervising.

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Tourism Technology

Opportunities for technology jobs permeate the tourism industry at virtually every level. Although
information technology has always been important in the field, its importance increases as the variety
of new devices and improvements on existing ones appear. For instance, application of advanced
information technology to provide tourist information via navigation systems, PDAs (personal digital
assistants), or mobile phones is growing.
Consequently, additional technical manpower will continue to be needed for tourism managers to
achieve the best results. People skilled in Web technologies, user interface, modules, database
management, programming, business intelligence, business analysis, market research, and computer
graphics are among those who can look forward to opportunities in the industry.
In addition to information technology, a number of new tourism products have emerged as tourism
technology has been combined with other industries. These include medical tourism, educational
tourism, agricultural tourism, marine tourism, and space tourism.
Another technology creating tourism jobs is the Global Positioning System (GPS). GPS has become a
widely used aid to navigation worldwide, and is also a useful tool for mapmaking, land surveying, and
commerce. Indeed, there is hardly a field that is not employing GPS; its many capabilities are applied by
scientists, pilots, military troops, hikers, bikers, business travelers, vacationers, off-road adventurers,
mariners, shermen, hunters, and balloonists, to cite a few. Visit www.garmin.com and www.tomtom.jobs
for more information.