Top 10 Travel Career Ideas For Women

Every woman, at some point in her life, looked at Elizabeth Gilbert from Eat Pray Love or Laila from Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara and wanted to just pack her bags and satiate the wanderlust in her. In 2017, travel and tourism industry accounted for 313 million jobs globally and India alone aims to create 46 million opportunities by 2025. Travel careers offer more diversity than other industries because of the sheer variety of the work involved, making it an attractive option for the independent woman who wants to explore unconventional career opportunities. If you love to travel, explore cultures and people, then here's a round of the Top 10 Travel Career Ideas for women.

1. TRAVEL PLANNER / AGENT

 A Travel Planner or Travel Agent is probably the most popular tourism job. They assist travellers in planning their itinerary, chalking out the budget, ticketing, and reservations, and look into almost every aspect of the tour. Agents must come up with interesting holiday packages and maintain personal relationships with clients to ensure a growth in the consumer base. Apart from the travel agencies, planners are often employed by multinationals for their corporate travel requirements such as retreats and day to day bookings. It is one of the best jobs in the world for those who truly enjoy travel.

Suitable For : This career is Suitable for women who have a keen interest to explore new places, have sound skills of research and marketing and possess considerable knowledge about global travel trends and culture. Those with great communication skills will enjoy the work as interaction with clients is extremely crucial.

Salary: Experience is a key factor in deciding the pay scale. Travel agents in India earn an average of Rs 243,648 per year including the bonus, profit sharing, and commissions. The range is 125,075 - Rs 632,533.

Qualifications: College graduates enter agencies in junior positions and gain experience over the years before assuming senior positions. Graduation from any field works but those who have degrees in travel and tourism are always at an advantage. The Indian Institute of Tourism and Travel Management offers PGDM in Tourism and Travel Management. Great communication skills, fluency in English and local languages are crucial. Intermediate level of knowledge of popular European languages is a plus point. One has to be extremely well informed about all details related to visas, passports, and travel related documentation. Most importantly, one must have a love for travel and be able to gauge critical insights from personal travels.

Avoid If: Being a travel agent is not your cup of tea if you don't have a knack for research, budgeting, marketing and maintaining personalized relationships with your client.

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2. ACTIVITY COORDINATOR

 Activity Coordinators usually work for resorts and hotel chains. Their primary job is to ensure the smooth implementation of the leisure activities that the hotel offers and that all events conducted in the premises are handled smoothly, without any hiccups. They come up with creative programmes and encourage the guests to sign up for the same. In hotels with a leisure centre, the coordinator is the one responsible for the day to day management and marketing it among the guests.

Suitable: The job of a leisure activity coordinator is good for a woman with great communication and interpersonal skills for interaction is the part of this job. If you have good leadership skills, you'd do well. An activity coordinator must have great problem skills and she must be equipped to resolve sudden crises.

Salary: he total pay including the salary and bonus is $22,631 - $40,065.

Qualifications: A bachelor's degree is a must. Activity Coordinators will benefit from a background in hotel management and public relations.

Avoid If: The job of an activity coordinator is not the correct travel career option for you if are not comfortable in working with a team, supervising events or interacting with people from diverse cultural backgrounds. Also, Avoid If you prefer to take your time and mull over the solution to a problem and cannot work with closely packed deadlines.

3. TRAVEL NURSE

Travel Nurse is interesting career opportunity among travel jobs for independent women who seek to make a difference. It can definitely be included as one of the best jobs in the world, touching many lives. A travel nurse is a registered nurse who travels from one place to another to fill in for nurses who are on leave or assist short-staffed hospitals. The job of a travel nurse combines the excitement of visiting new places and experiencing new cultures with the advantage of assured career growth. Travel nurses obtain practical knowledge and have the opportunity to work with specialized doctors from across the country and the globe, vastly contributing to their skill set. Women who are travelling nurses can work independently or associate themselves with health organizations. Working with such organizations greatly helps in career growth.

Suitable For: As a path closely connected to travel career opportunities, work as a travel nurse is Suitable For the woman who can easily adapt to new geographical and cultural surroundings. Positivity, warmth and good bedside manners are skills that are suited for a travel nurse as you need to keep the patient motivated.

Salary: Experience is a critical factor when it comes to the pay for travel nurses. The range of the annual salary range is $44,645 - $106,908.

Qualifications: One must be registered nurse with considerable experience in any healthcare setting. A nurse with greater experience is likely to obtain better assignments and pay from their employers. You may then apply to travel nursing companies such as OR Nurses Nationwide, Fusion Medical Staffing and Health Providers Choice. One should be very detail oriented and able to pick up on medical irregularities with ease. Travel nurses must be able to communicate with doctors with precision and work comfortably in a team and by themselves.

Avoid If: A career as a travel nurse is the not the job you're looking for if you are not prepared to travel on short notices. Trained nurses with infants may find it difficult to be away on assignments. One should take it up only after gaining considerable experience and not venture into travel nursing as a beginner.

4. ADVENTURE TRAVEL SPECIALIST

Organized adventure travel is a rapidly expanding field of tourism. Travellers want to dabble in a range of adventure sports in exotic locales and be on with nature. Adventure travel specialists lead such expeditions and are responsible for the training and safety of the team. Adventure Travel Specialist is a travel career option for the adrenaline junkie. Independent women with a love for the outdoors and longing to explore the wilderness will love this tourism job. Adventure Travel Specialists are employed by travel agencies, resorts, tour operators or can have their independent outfits.

Suitable For: First and foremost, adventure travel specialists must be passionate about adventure sports. They must be physically fit, possess critical thinking skills and be able to lead a group efficiently. The job is suitable for the woman who not only enjoys such activities but has the expert ability to communicate to a motley crowd and make sure the understand safety regulations before they embark on the journey.

Salary: The income of an adventure travel specialist is not fixed and depends on a number of factors such as location, seasonal or full-time employment, whether working independently or with a travel agency and the responsibilities assigned to you. At the start of your career, income ranges from Rs. 7000 to 12,000 per month and they pay will increase with the experience you gain over the years.

Qualifications: Women interested in adventure travel would do well with a degree in management, outdoor sports or any qualification in tourism. You should possess complete knowledge in your area of specialization and have considerable personal experience. A certification, degree or diploma in the sport will improve your skill and prospects. In India, the Ministry of Tourism has a set of strict regulations on safety and quality of Adventure Tourism. Every Adventure Tour Operator has to obtain permissions and approval from the Ministry of Tourism.

Avoid If: Adventure Travel Specialists is not easy and frankly, quite impossible if you are not motivated by a personal passion for it. It must be avoided if physical fitness is not up to the mark. The tour leader is responsible for the safety of the group and you are not cut out for it you think that you wouldn't be able to explain rules and regulations precisely and patiently. Sound communication skills are a must. You should be able to adapt easily to rugged outdoors.

5. SOMMELIE

Sommelier (Wine Taster) is a niche career in travel and tourism and is a road not taken too often, especially by women. But, if you have an active interest in wine and adequate qualifications, this could easily be one of the best and coolest jobs in the world. With the hospitality industry growing fast, sommeliers are achieving unprecedented career growth. The job of a sommelier involves having detailed knowledge about wine composition and service, being able to advise guests when it comes to choosing a certain wine, managing inventory for vineyards and working closely with the food and beverage industry.

Suitable For: While tasting fine wine for a living may sound romantic, it involves immense hard work. To be a sommelier, one has to undergo intensive training and it takes many years to develop unparalleled expertise. It is suitable for someone who is willing to devote time and energy to meticulous study, is willing to travel to new regions to explore vineyards and collections, will be abreast with the changes and trends in global culinary culture and actively engage with the industry.

Salary: Sommeliers can be independent consultants or work for hotels and restaurant chains. The pay will range from Rs. 10,000 to Rs. 30,000 per month. Independent consultants can from Rs 25,000 to lakhs per month.

Qualifications: The Wine and Spirit Education Trust (WSET) in UK is the world's best school to study wine. In India, we have institutes such as Vincrest India (Delhi), KBR School of Wine (Mumbai), Sonal Holland Wine Academy (Mumbai) and Institute of Wine and Beverage Studies (Delhi). The curriculum will include subjects such as the history of wine, viticulture, winemaking, responsible consumption, wine regions and vineyards of the world and understanding storage of wine. Given this, one cannot attain great levels of expertise without experience and on-the-job training. A sommelier needs to appear for examinations to obtain certification.

Avoid If: The job of a sommelier involves considerable travel as one has to constantly explore new collections. The hours can be irregular and the work is physically demanding, involving a lot of walking and long-distance travel. The bar and restaurant culture could take a toll on you. Keeping these aspects in mind, a sommelier is a career you would want to avoid if you aren't ready for the kind of commitment it requires.

6. CONCIERGE

 A concierge provides guests at hotels, resorts, restaurants, and lounges with highly personalized services. They look into every need of the guests and make sure that their experience is highly satisfactory. Their day to day responsibilities includes informing guests of events at the hotel, offer them advice on deals and discounts that may be available, arrange local sightseeing and tours, handle complaints and does ticketing and reservations for the guests.

Suitable For: The presence of a concierge is concierge is critical to the functioning of any hospitality establishment. They are the point of contact between the guest and the hotel administration. This kind of work is best suited for those who have very strong organisational skills and a good interpersonal communication. The concierge has to look into the needs of every guest and this requires a keen eye for detail.

Salary: Based on a survey of 36 concierges, the average starting salary would be around Rs.15, 448 per month. The annual package varies according to the chain of hotels, ranging from Rs.1, 89,086 to Rs. 3, 05,934. Luxury concierge firm like Les Concierges Services and Quintessentially Lifestyle also employ services of concierges.

Qualifications: Most hospitality chains in the travel and tourism would want their concierges to have a bachelor's degree in hotel and restaurant management.

Avoid If: A concierge needs to be quick on her feet, able to resolve complaints at the earliest and needs to be very active, maintaining a close relationship with every guest that checks in. If you are not keen on taking up a tourism job that involves a lot of running around and constant communication and coordination, a hotel concierge shouldn't be on your list.

8. INTERPRETER/TRANSLATOR

An interpreter accompanies travellers in countries where they ill-equipped to facilitate smooth communication due to a very prominent language barrier. The interpreters ensure proper interaction and are employed both by tourists and those who travel for business. Translators are also employed by agencies and websites for work related to their brochures, catalogs, guidebooks and language materials.

Suitable For: A career as an interpreter is suitable for someone who has advanced reading, writing and speaking skills in local languages, English and European languages.

Salary: Experience influences the pay in this field. As a starting salary, one receives a pay between Rs.10, 000 to Rs. 15,000. But there is no structured pay as it depends on the assignments and can be paid Rs.50, 000 for a single project. The salary of a translator in India lies within Rs 174,046- Rs 942,156, the average being Rs. 424,918.

Qualification: For work as a translator, one needs to study a foreign language in extreme detail from a reputed institute. It would be best if you learn the language from a school recognized by the embassy of the country. Requisite examinations need to be taken to obtain the certification that assures agencies of your proficiency in the language.

Avoid If: A translator needs in-depth knowledge of local culture, language, and the foreign language she has studied. Beginner or even intermediate level proficiency is not enough for the job. It involves long assignments and frequent travel. It is best avoided if these work conditions do not suit your lifestyle or interests.