Friday, June 29, 2012

Get Paid to Travel and Learn

Imagine having a career where you get paid to travel and learn about other countries and cultures. Those are exactly the benefits you get with many jobs in the travel and tourism industry. Positions as adventure guides, tour directors and tour managers allow you get paid to travel and enjoy all the benefits of touring the world – at no cost to you. Sound interesting?
Lots of other people think so, too. That’s why competition for travel jobs is fierce. Even though the job growth outlook for jobs as adventure guides, tour directors and tour managers is quite good – better than the average career outlook, in fact – these travel jobs are in high demand and aren’t easy to get.
And it’s no wonder when you consider the benefits of working as a tour manager or tour guide. Travel guides get paid to travel to exotic destinations and teach other people about them. Your responsibilities may include helping people in your tour group make arrangements for various amenities and ensuring that everyone on your tour enjoys their trip. You may be responsible for arranging tours and transportation to and from hotels for your group, but outside your actual work hours, your time is your own. Your travel expenses will be paid, and you’ll have plenty of time off to enjoy the exotic and popular destinations to which you travel.
Are you interested in a job where you get paid to travel? While travel jobs seldom require an advanced degree, you’ll have an edge if you take courses that prepare you for tour guide jobs and training for a career in the travel industry. With the appropriate training under your belt, you’ll be better prepared to fill out applications and perform in interviews for jobs for tour managers, adventure guides and tour guides.
The positions for tour guides and adventure guides are growing at a rate far above the normal growth rate for other careers, in part because adventure tours and green travel has become so popular. If you’re interested in a job with an adventure tours company, you might find yourself guiding a tour group on an itinerary that includes a day on a succession of coffee plantations or leading a tour group with a mission – to build a school building in a South American village, for example, or to spend a week touring the sub-Saharan deserts.
If you’re interested in travel jobs and want to get paid to travel, take the time to learn all you can about the travel industry and the responsibilities of a tour guide. It could be your ticket to a challenging and enjoyable career that few people have a chance to do.