Many people wonder whether or not the travel industry can recover from Covid-19. Fair enough, 2020 certainly was a testing year challenging for many industries, especially the tourism and airline industries.
Questions you may be asking yourself include:
- Will travel agents and the industry survive through Covid-19?
- What career could I move into?
- Will travel agents exist in the future?
- What are my transferrable skills and experience?
If you are asking these questions, then you are not alone.
But, if you do decide to change your career, here are the top 5 fantastic and exhilarating careers where your skills and experience gained working as a travel agent, tourism operator or air host can be transferred into. Remember these qualities and skills when you're being interviewed.
1. Marketing, promotions and merchandising roles/
A travel consultant has a customer oriented mindset. They are also usually passionate about travel and tourism, have an excellent knowledge of latest tourism trends and a good understanding of different tourism offerings and options. Such knowledge will be beneficial in a marketing related role for an international clothing brand, an events hire company and so forth. Any kind of role that involves selling experiences would be great too. Have a look online through LinkedIn and network with some recruiters in this field. You'll be surprised at the outcome.
2. Sales related roles.
A person working in the travel industry will likely have gained good sales and presentation skills. They need to offer and promote different services and offerings as well as suggest suitable travel options that best suite clients' needs. Such skills will prove valuable for any sales team and will stand out in your resume.
3. Events management and coordination roles.
Employers and recruitment firms value staff with good organisational and time-management skills. A travel agent often has to book tickets, reserve accommodation, organise rental transportation along with informing clients and providing useful travel material such as guides, maps and event programs. Such skills are important in events management.
4. Relationship management roles.
A travel consultant often has to build and maintain relationships with clients, which is a key skill required in relationship management roles. And if you're a student or graduate studying a course requiring good stakeholder engagement skills, then this is certainly a great step.
5. Business development roles.
Some travel related brands (internal travel within your country) may require energetic and passionate BDM's, who have a demonstrated interest in adventure travel - with strong business acumen and experience in a sales capacity in the travel industry. Because of this, in your CV you can highlight that you have proven experience in establishing and managing relationships with key account decision makers, trade partners and agencies, as well as a proven record of meeting and exceeding sales targets, and monitoring sales and marketing budgets.