Course Overview
Travel can be defined as the movement of people from one location to another over a relatively distant geographical area. This travelling may involve the use of different methods such as; airplane, automobile, boat and train among other means with or without a luggage. A tour can simply be defined as a journey done or travelled for pleasure or enjoyment in which several different places are visited. Travel and tours operations involve activities of selling travel related services and products to the end user clients or on behalf of third party travel agencies on commercial basis. Services offered may include package tours such as air tickets, hotel reservations among other related services. The process may involve booking air tickets for clients and transfer of the clients from the airports to hotels or other desired destinations among other client centred services. Travel and Tour Operations Management is a field of study designed at equipping learners with requisite skills and knowledge required to address the challenges that affects the travel and tour operations. Professionals in this field may be referred to as tours and travel specialists, travel managers, travel agents and tour operators among other titles. The work of travel managers entails managing the travel arrangements of holiday makers (tourists) as well as business clients and ensuring that everything runs according to plan from start to finish and in addition, providing customers with practical support throughout the trip.
Tourism being a leading sector in the country encompasses many facets such as hospitality and the tours and travel operations; there is need to train competent manpower with skills and knowledge to propel this industry forward. The Bachelor of Travel and Tour Operations Management is a four year course that has been designed to offer in depth understanding of the challenges and real world problems affecting travel and tour operations within local, regional and international contexts. The programme further aims at bringing together academics and practitioners in the travel and tourism industry to exchange ideas in travel management and tour operations in order to facilitate efficient delivery of quality service in the tourism industry. Exchange of such expertise and ideas shall go a long way towards providing conducive environment for travel and tourism training as well as providing students with an opportunity to acquire relevant knowledge and skills geared towards meeting industry needs as a whole and achieving students’ immediate goal of secure employment. The curriculum coursework covers important subjects such as; Introduction to Tourism, Introduction to Hospitality Operations, Introduction to Travel Operations, Consumer Behaviour in Travel, Strategic Marketing in Travel and Tour Operations, Airport and Ground Operations Management, Tour guiding Management, Airfare and Reservation System, foreign language studies (French, Spanish, German, Chinese etc), Business of Travel and Tour Operations, Airfare and Reservation System, Touristic Transport Policy and Planning among other crucial topics. Upon successful completion of the course, graduates will be competent in travel & tour operations planning, formulation of wining business plans & management of travel, tours and tourism enterprises at various levels for profitability as well as having appropriate knowledge, skills and competencies in tourism product development, service delivery and marketing and promotion among many other related services.
Entry Qualifications
For self sponsored students, at least a mean grade of C+ in KCSE. For Government sponsored students, the minimum cut point which is announced annually applies. The students should in addition have good performance in the following cluster Subjects; Subject 1 ENG/KIS, Subject 2, MAT A / MAT B, Subject 3 any GROUP II or any GROUP III, Subject 4 a GROUP II or a GROUP III or any GROUP IV or any GROUP V.
Becoming a travel manager
If you have passion for travel and want to turn your passion into a career within the travel and tours industry, then pursuing this course might be a good choice for you. In addition, you should be prepared to develop skills that can help you grow and succeed in this career.
Travel managers are effective communicators with excellent listening skills that enable them listen to customers, understand their travel needs and offer appropriate travel advice and information. They also have good customer service skills as customers sometimes may need to make last-minute changes in their travel arrangements, these professionals must therefore be able to respond to questions and complaints in a friendly and professional manner. Detail oriented skills are equally crucial in this field as these managers must pay attention to fine details in order to ensure that the reservations they make match their travellers’ needs and should be in a position to make reservations at the correct dates, times and locations to meet their clients schedules.
Travel managers may work with so many customers at the same time, good organizational skills is therefore very important in this field to ensure client information is kept in order and ensuring that bills and receipts are processed in a timely manner for efficient business operations. These professionals are also adventurousness people who may specialize in exotic destinations or particular types of travel such as adventure travel or ecotourism among others. Excellent sales skills are paramount in this industry as travel managers should be able to persuade clients to buy tours, transportation or lodging packages. Sometimes they might need to persuade tour operators, airline staff, or others to take care of their clients’ special needs. In addition, good planning skills and excellent ‘people’ skills coupled with foreign languages understanding is important if working overseas.
Work environment.
Travel managers work mostly in offices and may spend more time over the phone making travel arrangements with their clients.
Career opportunities
Graduates of this course may work in industries such as; currency exchange, retail travel, tourists board, tour operators, coach, railway, waterways as well as visitors attraction such as theme parks, zoos, heritage sites and museums among other areas. Hotels and holiday parks are also associated with this field. Graduates of this course may therefore work as travel managers, travel agency workers, tour guides, holiday representatives and general travel administrators among other titles. Graduates of the course can also start their own tour and travel businesses.
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Bachelor of Tourism Management
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Bachelor of Science in Food Service and Hospitality Management
Bachelor of Technology in Institutional Catering and Accommodation
Bachelor of Technology in Hotel and Restaurant Management