Five Jobs In Travel You Wish Your Career Advisors Told You About

Finished your exams? Love to travel? But don’t have the funds to book a round-the-world trip?

Why not pursue a career path which involves jetting off to exotic and distant places! Youth travel expert for 18-35 year olds Contiki is here to help, listing five jobs in travel which your careers advisor might not have told you about.

Who knew work could actually be cool and fun?

Trip Manager

Does a job introducing groups of young travellers to exciting destinations sound too good to be true? Well it’s not! The role of a Trip Manager for a travel company is a great way to meet new people, explore the world, boost your historical knowledge and expand your cultural awareness. On average, Contiki Trip Managers lead between 10-15 trips a year, with some lasting for nearly two months – so there’s ample opportunity to explore the world!

Sounds pretty incredible right? A Trip Manager needs to be a natural problem solver, super organised, , willing to learn, confident and professional, whilst still being fun. The overall goal is to ensure every traveller has the best and most memorable travel experience possible.

Buyer

Tasked with hand-picking the products that appear on the shelves of clothing stores across the UK, Buyers are the tastemakers of the UK’s fashion trends. Travel plays a huge part in a Buyer’s role, regularly jetting off to find new products in destinations like Asia, Europe and the USA. Researching what’s going to be ‘hot’ for the year ahead, and trend forecasting is essential to knowing ‘what the people want’.

Perfect for those confident in negotiating deals, researching and number-crunching, this is an exciting role which also requires fantastic time management skills to ensure tight deadlines are met. For those with a passion for fashion and long-haul travel, this is the ultimate career path.

Travel PR

Can you paint a picture with words? Public Relations professionals working in the travel field have the fantastic opportunity to explore the destinations they’re writing and talking about on a daily basis. Whether they’re working for a hotel chain, a travel PR agency or a global travel company, experiencing the product is part and parcel of truly understanding the brand they’re promoting.

For those that consider themselves something of a wordsmith, PR is a great route to explore. It’s the perfect career if you’re a bit of a social butterfly, as attending networking events and hosting journalists on press trips are integral parts of the role. Confidence is key, as is time management, working to tight deadlines and getting a little creative too.

Holiday Company Product Manager

A Product Manager at a holiday company is responsible for designing unforgettable holiday itineraries for its travellers. Day-to-day tasks can vary from negotiating exclusive behind-the-scenes experiences, to scoping out the best restaurants, and most comfortable and conveniently located accommodation. Essentially, a Product Manager will often need to ‘try before they buy’ to ensure the holiday experience is of the highest standard for its travellers – not a bad perk, huh!?

With an abundance of research required to sniff out the latest travel trends and cool new destinations, persistence and a passion for travel are key traits for this position. If you can bargain hard and you’re creatively minded then this could be the perfect job you never knew you wanted.

Travel Agent

Far more than just planning other people’s dream holidays, this is a challenging role which requires excellent organisation and strong sales skills. But the job comes with some great perks too! Travel agents often have the opportunity to sample the holiday products they’re selling. This includes ‘familiarisation’ trips to get to grips with different destinations, hotels and holiday itineraries, which travel agents can then recommend to their customers – with the edge of first-hand knowledge.

If you have excellent customer service skills and top geographical knowledge , then this could be the job for you. Day-to-day travel agents interact with holiday-hungry customers, and even recount stories of their own recent travels to inspire wanderlust!