Hospitality is inviting
Asia is well-placed to take advantage of the boom in tourism, and industry graduates have good prospects.
The global hotel, hospitality and tourism industries not only continue to grow at a significant rate, they are also being reshaped by technology and new, innovative companies that are forcing market change.
In this sort of environment, someone with the right mix of skills, dynamism and flexibility can forge a particularly exciting career; and the range of postgraduate programmes offering to help prepare them to seize these opportunities is expanding all the time.
The School of Hotel and Tourism Management (SHTM) at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) runs a number of such courses. Associate dean, professor Brian King, believes the focus of global tourism growth has shifted from established areas - Europe and North America - to Asia.
"The amount of new infrastructure and hotels is vast, particularly in China," King says. "For the past few years, China has been the world's leading destination for both inbound and domestic tourism. It is also the world's fastest growing outbound market."
While Hong Kong and Macau are already firmly established as the major destinations for mainland tourists, King sees several major infrastructure projects currently under construction, including the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge and the express rail link to Guangzhou, which will strengthen Hong Kong's position even further.
"Such developments will accelerate mobility across Guangdong, and into the rest of China, through the fast train network," he says. "With about 100 million people, and as China's most economically developed province, Guangdong is well placed as a generator of tourists."
