Tour Operator - A Career in Tourism

If you are one of those people who have a huge love for travelling and are also good at organizing trips and managing people, then a career as a tour operator is what you could consider seriously.

A tour operator is someone who prepares tour packages and then sells them to the public. Once a plan is in action, they are responsible for everything; from booking the tickets of the travelers, to getting hotel reservations done, chalking out a schedule, arranging conveyance, find out the places of interest at the spot to be visited, taking the travelers to sightseeing trips, to shopping trips, et al.

Some tour operators work for a specific category which means they organize tours of a certain kind only. The sub-categories could be mountaineering, trekking, river rafting, any other form of adventure, visit to a holy shrine or place, sightseeing trips, tours to places with a lot of historical value and many more.

It is a hectic job which requires one’s complete attention and focus. One needs to have a good idea about the place being visited. As a tour operator one should also have a lot of patience and be good at managing many different kinds of people. Tour operators also need to have excellent communication skills and if one knows a foreign language or two, it definitely helps. A likeable quality about tour operators is what makes people relate to them easily.

As a tour operator, one gets the chance of visiting many different places and also of interacting with people from all over India and the world as well. One also gets a firsthand experience of myriad cultures.

The pay scale depends on the job that you are handling. In case of a big travel firm, a Counter Clerk makes anything between 10,000 INR to 18,000 INR on a monthly basis. An Assistant earns around 15,000 INR to 20,000 INR per month. A Junior Executive’s salary varies between 25,000 INR and 30,000 INR while a Regional Manager is paid in the bracket of 35,000 INR to 50,000 INR. If the travel agency is a new one and is not that popular, the pay offs are a little lesser.

To be eligible for becoming a tour operator, one should first have completed their class XII. Then one must go for a graduate course in Travel and Tourism. Various Masters’ courses relating to travel management and operation are also coming up quickly these days. Working independently and setting up your own tourism agency is also a very lucrative idea.

The Nehru Institute of Mountaineering, the Kuoni Academy, the Indian Institute of Tourism and Travel Management, the International Air Transport Association, the Indira Gandhi National Open University and the Trade Wings Institute of Management are some well-known colleges that offer the courses required to become a tour operator.

What one needs as a tour operator is good liaisoning abilities to get the best deals for one’s clients and still make profit for the travel agency, creating a win-win situation for all.