Thursday, 12 February 2015

Demystifying Hospitality Education



More often than not, the variety and richness of our lives’ journeys are in inverse proportion to our fears and prejudices. Prejudices serve to bind us to preconceived notions and known opinions and blind us to the greater truth, while we remain content in our limited knowledge. Sometimes misconceptions are also born out of the reluctance of those who are considered ‘experts’ to elaborate and educate, preferring narrow views to comprehensive ones.

When pressed for a case in point, the hospitality education scene in India comes to the mind. 
The hospitality industry is kaleidoscopic with countless hues, where each hue in itself is multicolored. Yes, the hotel industry is the most striking and brightest brush stroke in the painting that is the hospitality industry, but other shapes and colors are no less important in forming the complete picture, so to speak.

A stroll down the corridor of hospitality is the need of the hour to get its deep insights, as it’s a Pandora box through which countless opportunities tumble out. The USP of the industry is these opportunities know no boundaries of segments.

Lodging

This is the jewel in the crown of hospitality. This is the segment that generates the lion's share of the revenue. It includes hotels, motels, inns and resorts. The job offerings can range from chefs, hotel managers, inventory manager, chief customer service officer and much more. Besides, sky is the limit for those with an entrepreneural bent of mind.

Food And Beverages

Over the last few years food and beverage segment has thrived in the most unconventional way, particularly in the developing countries. This is mostly due to the increasing social acceptance of it as a respectable and potential career option. It has opened the whole new avenue of jobs such as food criticism, wine tasting, brewery management, food technique and considering the ever evolving and vibrant nature of the industry, it will never cease to surprise us with its novelties.

Entertainment

Entertainment is something which is inseparable from humanity. As hospitality mainly deals with the happiness quotient of people, inclusion of entertainment was just a natural progression on the hospitality graph. It has a lot to offer on the roadmap of entertainment. The increasing popularity of the theme parks, clubs, gaming centers has also increased the need of experts who understand that mindset of being happy and who can create the feel good environment. Undeniably, all the entertainment hubs are like a nucleus of opportunities for hospitality experts.

Tourism

As hospitality people are trained to have etiquettes and communication principles which are extremely important while greeting people, tourism has seamlessly fallen into its ambit. They find themselves perfectly suitable as tour operators, travel/ transport agency manager. If stats to be believed, there is a mountainous surge in the revenue generated by tourism across the globe. Its visible domino effect is never-seen-kind of outpouring in the job market.

These and many other sectors like event management, business communication, corporate training and aviation are the potential territories which can be explored by the hospitality connoisseurs. The reason of its universal appeal and “fit to all” nature is, in essence, hospitality is the relationship between the guest and the host. Whenever there is an interaction between the client and host, the hospitality expert will be the first person to rely on. It’s like a catalyst of panacea which every industry wants to have in its soul. Indeed, it’s an elephant which cannot be caged in the four walls of the hotel. Its horizon has transcended it long ago!