People strolling on a Goa beach

New Delhi, April 26: Earning a B-school salary while relishing the beauty of Rajasthan’s forts, Kerala’s backwaters or Goa’s beaches may not be just a dream any more.

A top Mumbai business school plans to offer India’s first management course dedicated to the country’s fast expanding tourism sector, merging conventional tips on marketing and finance with tricks to lure tourists and keep them satisfied.

The one-year postgraduate diploma on tourism management at the Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies University, starting this academic session, will include internships with top travel firms in the last term, officials said.

The institute is rated among the country’s top private B-schools.

“India’s tourism industry today requires a cadre of managers who know both managerial skills and the specific nuances this sector needs. That recognition led to the conception of this idea,” Bala Krishnamurthy, who will head the new programme, told The Telegraph.

The programme will be officially announced next week.

The latest figures available with the ministry of tourism show a dramatic increase in tourist traffic over recent years.

The number of Indians travelling within the country had increased by nearly a hundred million between 2004 and 2006 — from 366.23 million to 462 million. Five million foreign tourists arrived in India in 2007, more than 40 per cent higher than the 3.46 million who visited in 2004.

The growing tourist traffic has highlighted a shortage of managers trained to deal with problems specific to the sector, according to Kruti Sharma of Thomas Cook Private Limited.

“At Thomas Cook, for instance, we find that ordinary executives who join us need further training — for at least three months — before they can take on managerial duties,” Sharma said.

The travel and tourism giant is supporting the Narsee Monjee programme through guest lectures and curriculum material, Sharma added.

The course will be divided into four terms, including the final-term internship, officials said. For their internship, students are free to choose the firm they want to work with, but can fall back on Thomas Cook in case they do not receive an offer, the officials added.

“This is not an MBA. But we do expect the programme to improve the employability of students significantly. We expect students to face little trouble in finding jobs with top firms in dream locations after the course,” Krishnamurthy said.

The institute will hold an entrance test for admission to the course. It is yet to finalise the number of seats on offer, but the capacity this year is likely to be around 30, Krishnamurthy said.