New Delhi: The World Travel and Tourism Council has projected exponential growth for this industry through the next decade and India needs well-trained professionals in travel trade and luxury brand sectors to tap the potential, a Geneva-based education expert has said.

Judy Hao, a Chinese American chief executive of the Geneva-based Glion Institute of Higher Education, said she found Indian students at her campuses in Switzerland to be quite well-equipped with language skills that are essential in the hospitality and travel fields.

“Tourism is the fastest growing industry now. According to the World Travel and Tourism Council, the industry is set to grow five-fold and one in 10 jobs by 2023 will come from this sector,” Hao told.

“For India, because of the growth of both the travel, as well as the luxury brand sectors, the country needs well-trained professional graduates educated in a global setting that we provide,” said the expert, whose institution offers graduate and postgraduate programmes in hospitality, tourism, sports, and event and entertainment management.

“For India, because of the growth of both the travel, as well as the luxury brand sectors, the country needs well-trained professional graduates educated in a global setting that we provide,” Hao said.

She said roughly about 5 percent of Glion’s student body is Indian. “Indian students are quite well-equipped with language skills and have a good foundation in English education.”

With a focus on service industries management and offering courses also in marketing, finance and banking, Glion says it helps students extend their career possibilities.

“Our core is the hospitality management school, but our model is that of a business school. Hotel operation is, after all, a business,” the chief executive said.

Ranked by TNS Global Survey, 2013, as among the top three hospitality management schools of the world, Glion has recently introduced luxury brand management as a course in its curriculum.

“We teach things like product differentiation, the difference between a luxury brand like Hermes and a product,” Hao said.

“We also communicate the service experience for a consumer and how our graduates can provide it. It requires to get into consumer psyche…how do you build and maintain luxury brands.”