As most of you may already
know, IATA stands for International Air Transport Association. It is the global trade association for the
airline industry. Its 240 member airlines comprise 84% of total air traffic of
the world so you can imagine that it is a pretty widely recognized and
affiliated association. IATA supports international airline activities and helps formulate
industry policy and standards. It is headquartered in Montreal, Canada.
According to IATA, Over 200
million people work in the travel and tourism industry worldwide and in this
era of technological advancements, the international travel depends on the
field of Aviation.
Now a days a number of
institutes in Pakistan are offering IATA recognized courses and they claim to
be certified and affiliated with IATA or some other agencies.
Some of them are:
1. The
College of Tourism & Hotel Management [COTHM]
2. TDCP - Institute
of Tourism & Hotel Management
3. Global
Aviation Institute
4. SPINE
5. Aviation
Technology Consultants
6. Pakistan
Institute of Tourism & Hotel Management
There are many more and you can
search for them online.
The essence of what these
institutes say about their certificate or degree/diploma programs they are
offering is that students study the basics of the travel and tourism industry to
get some understanding in order to become a successful travel agent. Also these
courses are aimed to improve your customer service, sales and to ensure customers
satisfaction. Some institutes also offer training and certification on Global
Distribution Systems (GDS) such as Abacus, Amadeus, Galileo or Sabre.
I did some research on this a
while ago as I was also interested in doing these IATA certified courses. After
acquiring basic information and fee structures, I went to consult some people
who already are in this field of Travel and tourism. Surprisingly, all of the professionals
suggested that one should do an internship at some reputed IATA approved travel
agency instead of wasting our time and money on these courses. This will give
you a chance to do networking and learn from more than one personnel and
opportunity to learn more than one ticketing software’s e.g. Galileo, Abacus
etc. Also if you are lucky, you can get some stipend. The above words are of
the people from the industry not mine.
BUT
If you don't have a
professional degree to go with this internship and you are just a high school
certificate holder, I would suggest that you take these courses and get IATA
certification.
The future of these courses also
depend on which country you are in. Is the Aviation sector growing or not? What
is your aviation industry`s employment rate? Do the Employers in your country
try to minimize cost on training or they prefer Qualified and certified Employee
only? You have to find the answers on all these things. Students fall prey to
these institutes easily when the admission officers make them day dream and
lure the simpleton student minds into thinking that only their institute is the
best. They give them the illusion that only
they can guarantee the student`s future. Please for GOD`s sake don’t waste your
money blindly. Hear everyone out but trust no one until you do a complete
market research.
If
you can afford, you can do online Travel and Tourism Training Courses from
the official IATA website. Although it’s expensive, but these courses are worth every
cent. TDCP and PITHM are government owned so they will have the minimum
tuition fees. Further I can’t say anything about their teaching standards and
classroom facilities etc. COTHM is very expensive and has very small yet
well-furnished and well kempt campus. On the contrary, its students are very displeased
about the quality of study and international recognition. Also they mentioned
bad behavior of the management towards students and the in availability of
classrooms and instructors on frequent basis. Although they have approximately 7x10
feet wall completely covered with pictures at international events and certificates
from international agencies and unions, surprisingly most of them don’t really
matter and are just general clubs and associations. So to conclude, I would
again say, the institutes are just businesses who would say whatever they need
to, to make a sale. It’s your money-your future on the line. Think your options
through before taking any step.
Trust yourself, you know more than you think you do. (Benjamin
Spock)
