Careers in Tourism and Hospitality
People often ask what jobs a career in tourism and hospitality can lead to. The answer is anything and everything!
The accommodation sector needs people to service its city hotels, resort hotels, boutique hotels, motels, motor lodges, backpackers, bed and breakfasts, farm stays and motor camps. And don't forget cruise ships, which are essentially floating hotels.
Then there’s tourist activities and attractions – tracks, museums, ski fields, wineries, jet boating companies, dive centres, parapenters and art galleries all need people to develop, run and critique these businesses.
All these places need someone to handle bookings, do the selling and marketing, keep the accounts, develop the collateral and brochures and, of course, manage and oversee the whole company. Matt Hollyer is the General Manager of Queenstown adventure tourism company, Canyon Swing. On any given day, he can do any of these jobs! That's why Queenstown is the perfect place to study adventure education.
“The thrill of Adventure Tourism is multi-faceted. As an industry it is
always growing and changing. To stay ahead you need to be constantly
aware of new trends, new markets and new technologies – knowledge is
power and you’ll never stop learning! On the other hand, giving a
tourist an experience that is most likely the most challenging thing
they’ve ever done can be pretty rewarding too”!
And hospitality career paths are just as exciting. Within a hotel alone, there are dozens of jobs and plenty of opportunity for promotion – or even to move into something entirely new. You may start in the restaurant as wait staff, work your way up to food and beverage manager or move across into sales and marketing. And all hotel job paths can lead to General Manager of the hotel, or even into the Corporate Head Office for an international hotel chain. See a typical hotel organisational chart below for further ideas and inspiration:
