The M.Com department organized a guest lecture in Tourism and Travel Management for the students of the M.Com Part I & II on 23rd January, 2019 at 11.00 a.m. The resource person for the session was Mr. Sanjeev Mendes, Proprietor, Aury Mendes Representatives Travel Agency, Margao.
The session began by Mrs. Sheryl da Silva introducing the resource person. Mr. Mendes first discussed with the students the various qualities one is looking for in a prospective employee especially in the field of travel and tourism. He stressed on the need to be disciplined, punctual, eager to learn, honest, have self confidence, good communication skills, values and integrity.
Mr. Mendes discussed about the various types of tourism such as cultural tourism, spiritual tourism, adventure tourism, rural tourism, medical and health tourism, eco tourism and also recent forms of tourism such as space tourism, slum tourism and dark tourism. He discussed about the demographics of tourists who prefer particular types of tourism.
Mr. Mendes threw light on the different impacts that tourism has on a destination such as on the economy, on the social and cultural aspects of the hosts at the destination and also the impact on tourism on the Balance of Payments of a country. He elaborated about how tourism is actually an invisible import or an invisible export for a country’s Balance of Payments.
Mr. Mendes stressed the need for marketing of tourism and the importance of marketing one’s tourism product. Also, one cannot undermine the relevance of customer satisfaction in a service and thus also in a tourism product. Through various examples, he discussed how a customer should be approached and dealt with in the tourism industry so as to ensure that the customer is satisfied and remains loyal to an organization.
The session ended with the vote of thanks by Ms. Veronica Pereira, student of M.Com Part II.
