“It is not the complexion of your skin or how good you look that determines your success in the hospitality industry, what is important is the right attitude and good communication skills. How you walk, how you behave and what you talk is what matters,” said the General Manager of Novotel- Visakhapatnam, Varun Beach, Md. Shoeb.
He was delivering an address on ‘Employment opportunity in hospitality and tourism sector' organised by The Hindu Business Line Club at Integral Institute of Advanced Management (IIAM) here on Tuesday. He said that there are a lot of opportunities for fresh graduates from B-Schools in the hospitality and tourism sector. The sector is growing rapidly and the focus has now shifted towards the domestic tourists, and the figure is on the rise.
The General Manager pointed out that India is blessed with amazing tourist prospects. “We have a desert, numerous snow-clad mountains, wildlife sanctuaries and medical tourism and half of them are still not explored properly, and that makes India a complete and exciting tourism destination,”
“The very fact that we intend to increase our strength from 12 to 65 properties in India by 2015, speaks volumes on the demand and requirement of trained manpower,” said Mr. Shoeb. Novotel is a brand of Europe-based Accor group.
Listing out the composition of the hospitality sector, he said, “The sector basically comprises airlines, travel agencies and hotels and each are inter-related.”
Hospitality and tourism are part of the service sector and the health and growth is directly linked to the prospects of the service sector which is right now on the upswing, he said.
Giving an understanding of the opportunities in the hotel industry to the young MBA students, he said that openings can be found in departments such as marketing and sales, HR and finance. “In the sector about 20 per cent are recruited from the non- hotel management area,” he informed.
He also cautioned that fresh graduates are put through a rigorous management development programme before being absorbed into the assistant manager cadre. “One cannot lose heart during this period. The right attitude, the will to learn, good communication skills, command over English language, adaptability and the passion to work are the qualities that we look for,” he said.
He also touched upon human values and said that ‘only a good human being can become a good manager'.
Referring to a question on competition in Visakhapatnam from other brands, Mr. Shoeb said that Novotel- Visakhapatnam- Varun Beach, has a large convention centre and a strength of about 200 rooms and that itself is the hotel's USP. “We are not looking for competitions from hotels with 40 or 60 rooms,” he said.
