The leisure industry comprises firms and organizations that provide consumers with recreational and entertainment services. Leisure industry jobs include roles working for travel companies, hotels, casinos and sports resorts. While many leisure industry jobs are found in the private sector, some national and regional governments also operate recreational facilities meaning that some industry workers are actually government employees.
Travel firms employ agents and sales staff who are responsible for marketing vacations packages, organizing tours and selling tickets for airlines, boat trips or bus journeys. Individuals who work as crewmembers for airlines or cruise ships are also regarded as leisure industry employees. Those who operate public transportation vehicles such as buses and trains are not viewed as such because many of their passengers are commuters rather than vacationers. Tour operators often employ representatives to handle the needs of tourists at resorts or hotels. Additionally, tour guides who lead individuals or groups of people on sightseeing trips are also leisure industry workers.
Private companies and government agencies operate major resorts that are either based around man made structures or attractions that form part of the natural world such as beaches, mountain ranges or forests. Leisure industry jobs that are typically found at tourist resorts include lifeguards, park rangers and security personnel. Many resorts also boast shops, restaurants and hotels in which case the people working in these locations are also leisure industry employees.
While many leisure industry jobs are focused on catering to the needs of vacationers, others are based around the needs of individuals seeking entertainment. Casinos employ workers to oversee various games and servers are employed to provide food and beverages to clients. Movie theaters employ front of house sales people to sell tickets and popcorn while behind the scenes workers are responsible for playing the movies and cleaning the theater. Actors, dancers, singers and other performers are also leisure industry workers and many of these people are employed to perform in bars and casinos as well as at theaters.
Some leisure industry jobs are based at golf courses, tennis courts and other locations where sports are played. Coaches and personal trainers are employed to teach visitors about different sports while physiotherapists are often employed to provide on-the-spot treatment to visitors who incur minor injuries. As with other recreational sites, sports facilities usually employ sales and customer service personnel to sell tickets and handle client issues.
Many leisure industry jobs are entry-level positions that are filled by people who have high school degrees. Some colleges offer degree programs such as leisure management that are designed to prepare people for managing resorts or hotels. Many leisure industry employers seek out people with business or management degrees to fill supervisory roles while those with sales experience are often recruited to take on promotional or sales roles.