An overview of Travel and leisure industry

To discover and explore new things is the natural desire in every human being. Hence people like to travel and have been doing so for centuries. With modern means of transportation, travelling has also changed its meaning and has become an important leisure activity. Travel and leisure are a big industry today, worth more than 900 billion Euros.

Essentially travel and leisure industry is an industry covering the following sectors of the economy along with related products and services-

- Entertainment

- Recreation

- Tourism

- Travel

Its easy to see that there are huge job potential in travel and leisure sector.

Entertainment can be defined as any activity which provides enjoyment to people in their leisure time. Entertainment industry includes operas, movies, television, theatre, music, sports, games, videogames, etc. There is a great need of creative people in such professions. You can work as an ani mator if you find cartoons interesting, if you are good at acting you can try your hands in films or television, if you have a mesmerizing voice or are good at playing guitars try a career in music. The opportunities are unlimited here!

Recreation differs from leisure in the sense that it is designed specifically for therapeutic refreshment of the body and the spirit. There are Bachelor of Arts program available in this field which help if you want to excel in this segment. Besides time-honored sectors like art, restaurants, writing, amusement parks, yoga etc certain new fields of employment like skiing, bungee jumping, adventure tourism and motor sports have emerged which have a surplus of job opportunities.

Tourism sector is a major employment generator in many countries, so much that it is the largest contributor in the G.D.P. of certain countries like Mauritius. You can find jobs in tour agencies that are a big business and many expert operators have gone online to attract more potential clients. For being a tour operator, first condition is that you must enjoy travelling. Then there are additional things that help like being multilingual, and having good communication skills.

Travelling sector includes all forms of travel. Talking about travel and leisure industry, air lines are seen as the most common because they carry the largest number of tourists. However besides air, sea and land are also important means of travel especially considering domestic tourism. Sea cruises, in addition are also popular internationally. Air travel industry employs a large number of people including pilots, flight attendants and stewards. Often these careers are highly glamorized career. However airlines employ more people in the form of ground staffs as technicians, baggage checker, ticket agents and passenger service agents such as airline lounge employees.

Travel and leisure sector has taken a hit recently in the wake of global war on terrorism and pandemic like S.A.R.S. (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) and more recently swine flu. This has cost the industry billions of dollars. Also entertainment industry is facing stiff competiti on from internet for precious advertising dollars. The global recession has also taken a toll on this industry. But travel and leisure being an inherent human nature is sure to recover. This industry is sure to bounce back soon.

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