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ARE you interested in hotel management, a career in tourism, or restaurants and event management?
Do you dream of being in travel and tourism, becoming a chef, or running your own travel agency?
The Tourism and Hospitality Industry is one of the fastest growing sectors both locally and internationally, offering hundreds of exciting careers around the world. The Chartered Institute of Tourism and Hospitality (CTH) provides programmes ranging from tourism and hospitality to culinary programmes and professional short courses. All CTH programmes are endorsed by industry leaders, providing you with an international study programme that is globally recognised and in demand in the tourism and hospitality industry.
If you’re dreaming of being in a management role in the tourism, travel or hospitality industries, then these are the entrepreneurial or employment opportunities for you.
TOURIST GUIDE BUSINESS
One of the travel and tourism related businesses that an entrepreneur can successfully start with little or no money is to become a tourist guide. All that is required to successfully launch this type of business is to ensure that you can speak at least one or more foreign languages. This could be English, French, Spanish, Chinese, Portuguese or German. Furthermore, you must also know the terrain pretty well. Once you are certain that you can effectively translate or interpret, then all that is expected of you to do is to position yourself in places where you can have access to tourists. This could be in a hotel lobby (you would have to negotiate with the hotel manager) or via referrals from a travels and tours company.
RESTAURANT AND BAR
Restaurant and bar is yet another business that is part of the business value chain of the travel and tourism industry. Although most tourists may prefer to eat the food they are familiar with, but it wouldn’t be out of place if you could also include some local delicacy as part of the food you sell in your restaurant. The truth is that some tourists make it mandatory to try out the local delicacies of the community they are visiting. So, ensure that you include local delicacies as part of the food you sell in your restaurant if your restaurant is located in a tourist town.
START LANGUAGE TRANSLATION SERVICES
Language translation services is yet another thriving and profitable business for an entrepreneur who is looking towards starting a business in the travel and tourism industry. All that is required to successfully launch this type of business is to ensure that you can speak at least one or more foreign languages; it could be English, French, Spanish, Chinese, Portuguese or German and of course other local languages. So, if you are looking towards earning income from the business value chain of the travel and tourism industry, then you should consider starting a language translation services. One good thing about this type of business is that you can successfully start it with little or no start-up capital.
PHOTOGRAPHY BUSINESS
Photography business is an added business venture in the value chain of travel and tourism industry. Although most tourists would always travel with their cameras to capture beautiful sites and moments albeit in an armature manner, but if they have the option to make use of a professional photographer, they would gladly embrace it. So, one of the business ideas that is suitable for a tourist town is the photography business. If you are a professional photographer, you can consider opening your own photography business. That is if you live in a tourist town or you can partner with a travels and tours company to become one of their official photographer.
SOUVENIR SHOP
A souvenir shop is yet another travel and tours business idea that is highly profitable in any tourist town. Loads of visitors would prefer to buy local crafts, unique gifts or native wears, from a tourist town as a mark of remembrance. Subsequently, if you are looking for a travels and tourism related business to set up in a tourist town, then you can consider opening a souvenir shop that will be stocked with local crafts and native wears among other things. Just ensure that your souvenir shop is well located and looks attractive.
VEHICLE RENTAL BUSINESS
A rental business is viable and profitable in a tourist town. There are several stuffs that tourists could rent when they visit tourist sites. It could be a car, scooter, speed boat, canoe or even horse, donkey or camel. The bottom line is to conduct your market survey to know what tourists may likely need in the tourist town that they aren’t able to bring along when they are visiting. Once you have an idea of the stuff that is needed by tourists, then all you need to do is to purchase enough quantities of the stuffs and then position your business in a place that will be visible to tourists.
TRAVEL AND TOURISM-RELATED TV PROGRAMMES
Another profitable and thriving business idea in the travel and tourism industry that an entrepreneur who intends starting a business in the industry should consider starting is to start a travel and tourism-related TV show. Everyone who intends travelling to a location as a tourist need all the information they can lay their hands on as regards the destination they are heading to. One thing is certain, if your TV programme is well organised and well-packaged to address key issues as it relates to the travel and tourism industry, then you will surely attract large viewership and of course mouth-watering sponsorship deals from major players in the value chain of the travels and tours industry in your country. It is a cool way of making money, but you must always be on your toes when it comes to developing interesting, trendy and useful contents for the TV programme.
START A PRIVATE ESCORT FIRM
Another money spinning business that an entrepreneur who is interested in earning revenue from the business value chain in the travel and tourism industry is a private escort firm. Private escort firms provides security for individuals, most especially tourists and visitors who want to move from one location to another with valuables, and huge amount of cash et al and also for transport companies and haulage companies as well. So if you are looking towards starting a travel and tourism related business, then one of your options is to start a private escort firm. It is important to state that you would need to apply and obtain a licence and permits from the appropriate authority in your country.
ORGANISE CARNIVALS AND OTHER RELATED EVENTS
Another interesting means of earning money from the business value chain in the travels and tourism industry that an entrepreneur should consider starting especially if you are good with organising events is to start organising carnivals and other related events in your community, especially if your community attract tourists and visitors on a regular basis. If your events are well packaged, you can successfully get financial support and sponsorship deals from your local government, corporate organisations that operate within your community and from individuals who are interested in the event you intend organising. You can also make enquiries from the airport authority in your areas to know if private companies are allowed to run a shuttle bus service at the airport and the rules and regulations governing shuttle bus operators.
TICKETING AND RESERVATION SERVICES
A ticketing and reservation service is perhaps one of the most popular money-spinning business in the travel and tourism industry that an entrepreneur who is interested in starting a business in the industry should consider starting. Once people scale through the difficult hurdle of getting a visa, the next thing they begin to consider or rather putting in their expense budget would be tickets. It is for this reason that the business is a very profitable one. You too may consider cashing in on the industry by starting a ticketing and reservation business. In starting this business, you will need a great wealth of knowledge. That is why you can begin to look at having ticketing deals and stuff like that.
TRAVEL AGENCY BUSINESS
Another highly thriving and profitable travels and tourism business that an entrepreneur who is looking towards starting a business in the industry should consider is a travel agency. Travel agencies render services that cover all aspects of travelling. They help their clients to secure visas, purchase flight tickets, book hotels, book taxi cabs and bus shuttle services and of course make arrangements for sight-seeing among other services. So, if you are looking towards starting a business in the travels and tours industry, then one of your options is to start a travel agency. It is a cool way of making money from the industry and with little start-up capital. A serious minded entrepreneur can successfully launch this type of business.
HOTEL AND LODGE (MOTEL, INN ETC)
Of course, it is a must for visitors to look for places to lodge when they visit any town. In that regard there must be a host who is ready to accommodate them for the duration they stay for. So, hotel and lodge is a very vital business that is needed in tourist towns. As a matter of fact, before tourists visit a tourist town, part of their findings will be how to locate the nearest hotel and lodge in the town. The truth is that if a tourist town lacks standard hotels and lodges, then they are likely to attract fewer visitors (tourists). So, as an investor, if you are looking towards starting a travel and tourism related business, then one of your options is to invest in hotels and lodges.
Remarks
The CTH programmes are a great alternative or complement to university courses. However, if you want to convert to a degree, your senior level qualifications can get you entry to final undergraduate or Masters years at a range of universities globally.
WELCOME TO A WORLD OF OPPORTUNITY AND SUCCESS!
Bongani Ndlovu