FOR an industry averaging R16.6 billion in hotel room revenue in 2017 and forecast to increase by an additional 5.6 % according to PwC’s Hotels Outlook, the tourism industry and its growth forecast remain as energetic as the industry itself.
Against this positive background, Ronel Bezuidenhout, Principal and Managing Director for leading hotel school, the Capital Hotel School, said a career in this consistently growing industry should be a serious consideration for school leavers or post-gap year individuals.
“Today, there are roughly 124 different roles available across food & beverage, housekeeping, front office and chef departments. This industry is possibly the most diverse environment to cater for varied personality types, and this won’t change much in the future,” she said.
In South Africa alone, according to PwC’s Hotels Outlook report, 2017 saw a 7.2% increase in foreign visitors from outside the continent.
The International Congress and Convention Association ranked Cape Town as the best business tourism city in Africa, and Euromonitor International ranked Johannesburg among the top 100 city destinations in the world and six additional four-star hotels are scheduled to open in Durban, Johannesburg and Malelane between 2019 and 2021.
“This is great news for people looking for a career path with unlimited growth potential and if students prefer looking abroad for experience or to travel with the industry in one of the 124 plus roles, our international accreditation affords them that opportunity too,” Bezuidenhout said.
“Despite consistent technological introductions to the market, across an array of sectors, the hospitality industry remains one of the very few, that will always require human interaction.”
According to Forbes.com, certain technologies like customer relationship management (CRM) systems have already been successfully rolled out, and Gartner highlights artificial intelligence (AI) like speak-to-order technology, augmented reality (AR) to better direct customers when on site, and biometric authentication (facial recognition) as key advancements to look out for in the future that will assist with the day-to-day, time-consuming tasks.
Bezuidenhout said the true opportunity lies in using people to focus on unrivalled customer service and rich, on and off-site experiences that will keep guests coming back.