There are only two kinds of people in this world; the ones who never feel the urge to leave the house and the ones who are consumed by the wanderlust. Travel, in other words, is a basic human desire. Hence, Travel and Tourism ranks among the most exciting and dynamic economic sectors on the planet. In 2014, the industry accounted for $7.6 trillion in revenues and was responsible for providing 105 million jobs, according to the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC). Being one of the major destinations for world travelers to explore, tourism benefits India in three ways; employment, foreign currency and infrastructure development. Tourism generates over $11 billion in foreign currency, assisting the country's trade balance.
However, only 17.5 percent is the current ratio of trained professionals in Travel and Tourism industry. Remaining work force is untrained and does not have any formal education or training in this sector. This means that the Travel & Tourism industry needs more quality educational institutes to cater to the skill gap. With six learning centres in Mumbai, Thane, Navi Mumbai and Pune, Columbus Travel Academy (CTA) wants to play a vital role to meet the ever-increasing demand for trained personnel in this industry. Their goal is to provide job oriented certificate programs, which are frequently updated and industry-relevant. "An approximate 20 million people are working in India's Tourism industry. Career opportunities in travel and tourism are huge and the industry provides a range of job options for professionals with appropriate education," says Chandra Shekhar Tripathi, Founder & Chief Executive, CTA.
The institute offers Master Diploma programs on Travel and Tourism, Aviation, Ticketing and Reservation and IATA Foundation Galileo. Along with that, various short-term programs such as Foreign Languages and Personality Development for students who aspire to be a part of this growing industry are offered by CTA. These courses are specially designed based on dynamics and functioning of the industry and delivered through both academic and practical skills. With the industry endorsed course content, CTA proudly boasts of the best faculties with industry experience. Tripathi says, "To deliver the finest learning experiences, we implement our trainings through various activities such as periodic quiz sessions, industry specific case studies, role plays, mock training sessions, practical training, projects and field visits. We believe that these techniques and procedures are at par with international standards."
CTA's programs contain modules specifically designed to cater tourism industry. Modules like Computerized Reservation Systems (Galileo, Amadeus), Tourism Product Development, Tourism Marketing and Destination Management prepare a student on the latest trends of the tourism industry and various effects it causes. Business management modules, such as Travel Agency Management, Human Resources in Tourism sector, and Financial Management are intended to help students to develop their core understanding of the business world. "We aim to provide a high quality learning experience, and to give every aspirant an opportunity to become business-minded professionals who will be best suited to the requirements of a travel, aviation and tourism industry. Our courses and training methodology are CRISIL Verified, which states our course content and training delivery quality service," opines Tripathi. The institute considers placement support and assistance of students in the relevant fields as an important step towards their success. Hence, they provide guaranteed internships to the students to get their hands on experience with industry. CTA takes responsibility of transforming the student into professional and adding values to make them ready for placements. Today, every CTA students start their career with an annual average package of Rs. 1.5 to Rs. 3 lakhs.
On the flipside, to learn complete knowledge on fare constructions, e ticketing and auto refunds, CTA has exclusive tie up with Galileo for GDS software training for the students. In addition to that, the institute has collaborated with Maitreya Capital, a Non-Banking Financial Company for providing educational loans to needy students to offer holistic approach. Tripathi takes pride saying, "Customer service is at the heart of CTA. To ensure a comprehensive learning environment, every classroom is air-conditioned and has an elegant ambience. Meeting world standards, every class possess state-of-the-art training technology and aids." Training 600 students in a year, CTA aims to be the world's best institution in the field of travel and tourism education and are committed with responsibility to value principles and ethics of the community.
Chandra Shekhar Tripathi, Founder & Chief Executive
Having over twelve years of experience, a business development professional Chandra Shekhar has worked across Accounting, Animation, Artist, Aviation, Business Management, Event Management, Fashion Designing, Hospitality, IT industry and many more. A postgraduate in Management from ITM Business School, he started his career in the Education Sector in the year 2002. His forte lies in driving SBUs, Business Development, Operations Management, Franchisee Management, Sales and Marketing.
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