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Main Feature
Make formal training mandatory for hiring
Kamal Hingorani, ex-vice president and head, Kuoni
Academy of Travel (KAT), underlines the importance of formal training in the
burgeoning fields of hospitality and travel and highlights the skillsets required
to enter the trade
Hospitality and travel is on a stage that has never looked as promising and
exciting as it does today. The demand for quality professionals and specialists
in the profession is the most vital need of the hour. The inter-connectivity
between hospitality and travel has opened up greater avenues for students who
intend to pursue careers in hospitality and tourism. Setting up an academy for
travel and hospitality in such an environment was only a natural fall-out. Hence,
a hospitality institute or a travel institute provides quality staff that meets
the demands of both the industries, wherein students from the travel academies
are also placed in the hospitality segment. My three year association with Kuoni
Academy of Travel has been challenging, yet interesting and our students have
received placements in the hospitality sector. Three years on, as I moved back
in the mainstream industry, reminiscing over this tenure, it gives me immense
pleasure and satisfaction that I have probably never felt in my career of 20-odd
years. As we set up our first state-of-the-art centre in Delhi in the first
three months, I already had an answer to the question why were there no premier
travel institutes in India, unlike the hospitality segment. The lack of commitment
of the industry towards professionalism coupled with non-availability of good
faculty were the key factors.
An analysis of our industry reveals the following truths:
- There are no entry barriers to join this trade
- The second generation of trade members, like their
predecessors, do not even have graduates in many cases, be it entrepreneurs
or employees
- Not surprisingly, a sizeable chunk constitutes of
those who don’t have any formal training in travel
Let me relate to you an anecdote. A colleague had referred a friend to meet
me to discuss travel as a career option for his 20-year-old son. Both parents
mentioned that their hopes initially were to get their son into the field of
medicine or engineering. They even explored architecture, fashion designing
and a few other areas that didn't require a high intellect level. They ‘finally
gave up on him and decided to let him be part of the travel trade.’ This
kind of thinking is not uncommon amongst parents whose children are not inclined
academically. From the employment perspective, this actually sums up the position
of travel trade as an industry vis-à-vis other industries in India.
Dr Peter Drucker, the eternal Management guru, who recently died at the age
of 95, has talked about 'people as key drivers for any and every industry globally',
irrespective of infrastructure, technology, machinery, finances or any other
imaginable resource. Travel and tourism being a service industry is 100 per
cent people-driven. Any professional training is an essential requirement, more
so in the current dynamic travel environment. Alongside technical skills equally
important is training in life skills, to be able to evolve into a composite
professional, ready for excellent customer service. After all, service cannot
be patented, unlike commodities. It is this array of diverse modules that comprise
KAT courses, which are uniformly implemented at all the centres at New Delhi,
Mumbai, Hyderabad, Bangalore and Chennai.
As per WTTC, there are 10 million jobs to be created in the industry in the
next 10 years and KAT's contribution has been approximately 2,500 trained professionals
in the last two and a half years. While we could have scaled up the input many
folds, not to do so was a conscious decision since our focus was clearly quality
rather than quantity. Despite the dearth of qualified faculty, and at the same
time readily available capital, we chose to build classrooms not exceeding 24
students as a uniform model being followed by KAT. An interesting observation
was made by an industry friend recently, who wondered as to why more and more
large travel companies in the country have now decided to venture into travel
academies. I am glad they are doing so because KAT can only contribute a fraction
of what is needed.
A crucial aspect of the success of KAT has been, besides of course our faculty
and people, the unflinching support from the length and breadth of the industry.
Support has been forthcoming in the form of contributions and inputs for updating
the course, guest lectures, placements, and scholarships and awards to our students.
To me, personally, the icing on the cake is the fact that the children of so
many industry personnel are now enrolled in our centres across India. From Kuoni
India's perspective, the fact that every time anybody from the Zurich head office
visits India, they make it a point to visit KAT centers.
What we need to do today is spread awareness about the importance of formal
training in this domain. After all, this single-largest industry generates an
economic activity of US $38.8 billion and represents a whopping 4.9 per cent
of India's GDP. While KAT has been devoting consistent resources to this cause,
one recent activity undertaken was to hire a 20 year old young achiever Ankit
Fadia as a brand ambassador to launch our travel BPO course. This wizkid has
already written six books on IT and is presently helping the US government in
some highly sensitive assignments. He has been chosen by KAT as a role model
to impress upon young aspirants, to relate to travel as a respectable career
option and not as a last resort.
I would urge the entire industry to spread this message to not only upgrade
the status of this industry, but also make formal training a mandatory eligibility
at the time of hiring.
The author is currently an executive VP, International Travel
House (ITH), New Delhi
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