How do I get far with a hospitality and tourism degree?

Dear Rebecca Z.

I am so glad you ask us. I am very glad to help you. I worked in a hotel and later in the tourism industry.

I learned a lot and it was a very good job where I learned how people manage big companies fairly.

Brace, and have patience because I have a lot of things to tell you.

Please read on!

You can get very very far. In fact you can go all around the globe. Travel all over the world and live in many interesting places.

There are more than 215 countries, and a rough estimate indicates there are more than 188,000 hotels. (probably more) They range in size and style, some hotels may have 20 rooms or less, some have over 1500 rooms.

The short answer is, you can go as far as you want. How far does your imagination and your heart take you?

You can reach the highest position in a hotel that would be as general manager, and President of hotel chains. or serve hotels in 5 basic departments: Sales and Marketing - Food, Beverage and Entertainment - House Keeping & Maintenance ( and Engineering) Accounting - Service (lower ranks).

In the year 2017 alone it is calculated that 7,542,877,854 ( 7 billion - 542 million - 877 thousand and 854) people have traveled all over the world. that is more than 20,665,418 (20 million + 665 thousand + 418) people every single day.

No wonder we have so many airports all over the place, and trains, and boats and ships.

And you know what Rebecca Z. ? because they cannot take their house with them. ALL OF THEN NEED A ROOM TO SLEEP AT NIGHT!

They want to see another country and want to sleep in a safe and nice bed at night after they go out to see the city. That is the reason why hotels are so beautiful and safe. Sleeping there is not free, they have to pay.

Cities and countries need people to help them keep up with all of this, in tourism you can reach even higher, you study geography, history and architecture so you know what is interesting in cities and countries.

then also the government wants to know who how many people come to their country and why.

Some people travel just to find something new to see they haven't seen before, others travel to help others, like doctors and dentists, others travel for business to buy things and take them back. and government official travel to talk to other politicians and government people.

How far you get depends on a couple of things:

1) how hard are you willing to study?

The harder you study the farther you can go. I would say get a Bachelors Degree

2) how many years do you want to study?

You need to finish High School and do college, probably 2 years. Then you need to study another 4 years to get a bachelors degree. Most people finish by the time they are 23 or 24. Some take a break of one year before they continue.

3) do you want to travel a lot? Do you want to be a manager, or a desk clerk? Do you like to walk around a lot or do you like to stay in one place and one office? Do you like to work with numbers or do you prefer to talk to people and help them? This is important because you need to know where your heart takes you first.

Most likely you need to do all of these things all at the same time. but every job needs more of one skill and less of another.

Learn to know about yourself, what you like and don't like.

Ask your parents or school and see if they can take you on a field trip and check out hotels in your own area and see what you think of them.

Talk to the people that work there, from general manager to the maids, gardeners and bartenders. Ask them what they like about their job.

Hi Rebecca,

Hospitality and tourism is such a complex degree, you will develop abilities that will help you to understand many different business, the main advantage that I consider you can develop in this industry is the ability to understand the customer and empathize with them fulfilling their expectations of their travel. 

The travel industry is constantly changing and being much more competitive, this open a lot of opportunities around the world, big brands are adapting their business models and boutique hotels are having an amazing growth worldwide which has impacted the share of the business. 

Some of the biggest satisfactions from working in tourism is having the chance to meet new people everyday, understand new cultures and the most amazing thing is that everyday is different with new challenges and very dynamic activities. 

Depending on your interests you can manage to develop your career on the daily operation or be part of the administrative department. Something amazing of this industry is that you can easily switch between areas and every previous knowledge will really help you to be better in your job.

In my case I started my careers with a couple internship programs in Mexico an Barcelona at the Food & Beverage department and also the Rooms Division, which help me understand the day to day operation and to identify what I really wanted to do with my career.

I also managed a boutique hotel in Mexico City since the opening until getting it to the first places on the OTA's (Online Travel Agencies), in which you can develop the strategies for every area such as F&B, Revenue Management and the standards of the daily operation.

I really encourage you to that this degree if you have the passion for service, travel and sales.