The difference between hospitality and tourism jobs in Sri Lanka

Hospitality is the one large umbrella under which tourism is just one segment. As the name implies, hospitality means being hospitable. This encompasses travel, customer care, food and beverages, and every aspect of a customer’s experience when out on leisure or on holiday.

Let’s look at a small story. Sam who lives overseas wants to visit Sri Lanka. He goes to a travel company to book his tickets. He goes online and books his hotel. He boards an aeroplane and comes to Sri Lanka. When he’s nicely ensconced in his hotel, he decides to go to a restaurant and have dinner. He takes a taxi to get to the restaurant. At the restaurant, he enjoys his meal so much that he decides to send compliments to the chef. Everything he does from the moment he decides to go on the trip until he goes back home has an impact on the hospitality industry.

On the other hand, tourism directly relates to his air ticket booking, his hotel reservations and other travel plans Hospitality is tourism together with customer care.

Types of Hospitality and tourism jobs in Sri Lanka

There are the plethora of hospitality and tourism jobs in Sri Lanka. Let’s first look at hospitality jobs in Sri Lanka. Some of the most popular jobs in the hospitality industry are related to hotels. All the positions in hotel management and administration are lucrative jobs while hotel general managers and other hotel managers are the highest earning hospitality jobs in Sri Lanka. If we look at other hotel jobs which are popular there are jobs for hotel clerks, bellhops, convention and banquet planners, concierges, restaurant maître d’, every single type of chefs, restaurant staff, ticketing and reservation agents, maids and housekeeping staff, gaming dealers and casino staff are some of the more well-known ones.

And if your dream is to travel the world and get paid for it, there are many available jobs in the aviation industry as well. The most popular aviation jobs in Sri Lanka are pilots and cabin crew. But if you stopped to think about it, you will realise the staggering number of people needed to run an airport, manage people, run aeroplanes and manage trips. All these jobs at one point or another come up as vacancies. If a job in the hospitality field is for you, keep yourself ready, as your chance just might be around the corner.

How to prepare yourself for hospitality and tourism jobs in Sri Lanka

Before you decide on a career in hospitality, there is one thing you need to do. Envision yourself with a smile on your face the whole day. Even when someone annoys you, even customers are rude. One prerequisite for the hospitality and tourism jobs is affability. If you can smile through any crisis, you can sail yourself through any hospitality job.

That being said, it is always better to arm yourself with relevant education so that you can easily go the distance in your job. Because Sri Lanka is a popular tourist destination, there are many institutions in the island which offer education in the hospitality and tourism industry. These educational institutions offer courses on everything related to the industry from hotel and restaurant management to culinary arts, ticketing and reservations and business management.

Are hotel vacancies in Sri Lanka popular?

Hotel vacancies in Sri Lanka have been popular even during the war times when the tourism industry didn’t prosper. But now that the war has been over for close to a decade and hotels are coming up like mushrooms all over the island, the popularity of hotel vacancies in Sri Lanka has also gone up. From blue-collar jobs to the most skilled, there are jobs for every skill and talent level in the hotel industry. For instance, the world renown Shangri-La hotel chain has set up operations in Sri Lanka and are now hiring. That is not all, there is a myriad of job vacancies of different sorts available to anyone looking for jobs in Sri Lanka due to the boom in the hotel industry.

Are Chef jobs in Sri Lanka popular?

Another popular type of jobs in the hospitality and tourism industry are the chef jobs. While there are, numerous cooks looking for jobs around the country, there is quite a demand for some well-qualified, experienced, and professional chefs. Especially those who have been trained overseas seem to be much sought after.

What are other popular tourism job vacancies in Sri Lanka?

Travel guides and travel agents are also in much demand in Sri Lanka. As the number of tourists visiting the island keep on increasing each year people who love to travel and show others around are constantly hired as tour guides. The job of a tour guide includes not only taking tourists from one place to another but also having a deep knowledge of the places they visit. For any travel enthusiast, it is quite the dream job.