Changing Dimensions of Tourism Education in India :

Experiences, Opportunities and Challenges

 Tourism

industry is a labor intensive

service industry, depend for survival and at
best,
competitive
advantage
on
the
availability of good quality human resource to
deliver, operate, and manage the tourism
industry.
The

service quality of tourism destination

totally depends upon availability of quality
human resources in the industry.

 There

has been great demand of professional

education particularly tourism education.

This

has led to mushrooming of many institutions

and courses on tourism management in country.

Change

in the curriculum, content, character and

structure of tourism education and reshaping it
to meet the needs of both the industry and
academic are the top priority tasks.

Purpose
This paper provides an insight into issues that affect
the integration of education, training and learning
outcomes in tourism education.
It also raises questions that tourism stakeholders need
to address if tourism, both as an industry and as field
of study, is to sustain itself in long term perspective.

In this regard, to meet the evolving needs of

industry and academics, an innovative
approach has been discussed to make
educational institutions aware of the gap
between the content and the design of their
tourism programs in relation to industry.

Experience

Challenges

Opportunities

The global Travel & Tourism industry will grow by

2.8% in 2012, marginally faster than the global
rate of economic growth, predicted to be 2.5%.

This rate of growth means that Travel & Tourism

industry is expected to directly contribute $2
trillion to the global economy and sustain some
100.3 million jobs

When the wider economic impacts of the industry

are taken into account, Travel & Tourism is
forecast to contribute some $6.5 trillion to the
global economy and generate 260 million jobs
or 1 in 12 of all jobs on the planet.
Source WTTC

There are more than 8000 Tour & Travel entities in

India spread across the four geographic regions of the
country.

Travel Agencies and Tour operators account for 38%

and 43% of the above.

In India the Tour and Travel units employ more than

96 thousand people across various functions.

OUTLOOK-TRAVEL & TOUR FIRMS

Tour & Ticketing functions employ half the total

work force followed by accounts and
administration.
Incidence of formally trained personnel is high and
stood at 55% and managerial staff accounts for
almost 21% of the total work force.

Each Travel & Tour on an average employees 12

people.

The remuneration at entry level touched almost

Rs. 12500 in 2010.

OUTLOOK-TRAVEL & TOUR FIRMS

Attrition rate higher in this sector and

touched 50% in the Tour Operators &
Travel Agencies.

SNAPSHOT OF TRAVEL & TOUR

FIRMS

Source : Market Pulse MOT study, 2011

SEGMENT WISE NO. OF TRAVEL & TOUR UNITS IN

2010

Region

Travel
Agency

Tour
Operator

Adventure
Tour
Operator

Tourist
Transport
Operator

East

501

344

--

138

North

700

1595

392

112

South

1018

862

731

--

West

840

550

159

07

North
East

13

116

--

--

All India

3072

3467

1420

119

EDUCATION & TRANING

INFRASTRUCTURE FOR H & T
Region

Govt. Owned HM
Institutes

Other HM
Institutes

Tourism &
Travel
Institutes

East

12

12

North

15

57

59

South

93

95

West

36

37

All India

31

198

203
Total - 432

SIZE OF GRADUATING CLASS IN

THE H & T in 2010

The total students who have passed out

from Hospitality & Tourism institutes
62347.
Total Students

Total 62447

Govt. Owned
HM institutes

Other HM
institutes

Tourism &
Travel
Institutes

5197

29856

27294

The recent expansion in tourism-related courses has

mushroomed.
Such growth has been fuelled by the rapid expansion of the
industry and recognition by governments that tourism contributes
significantly to local and national economies.

Tourism employers often recruit non- tourism graduates.

Tourism degrees no uniform title or description as to their nature
and content. Ex- MTA, MTM, MATM, PGDM, MBA-TOURISM etc
Standardized HR practices in tourism sector.

Approach to Tourism Education

Education of the faculty

Development of employability

Teaching methods and textbook contents need improvement

An effective evaluation system

Quality focused education

Integration of research and teaching

Public-Private Partnership and MOU

Need to understand dynamics of industry

Understanding market orientation
Curriculum led to learning
Corporate Ties Ups
Supporting tourism training institutes
Facilitating skill development in tourism sector
Promoting Corporate entrepreneurs in SMTE
through Human Resource Development.
Creating network of excellence
Greater focus on ethics

CONCLUSION
Role of industry intervention is required for
excellence in tourism education.
Collaborative approach need to adopt among four
major stakeholders Government, Institution,
Students and Industry.
Networking for excellence.