Career family
Hospitality, Tourism & Events
Creating good experiences for guests, travellers and event-goers, in hotels, restaurants, travel and events.
- Mainly Helping & Teaching
- Also Leading & Enterprising
- Also Organising & Managing Detail
What the work involves
A closer look.
Work is people-facing, fast-paced and often outside normal office hours. Good service, organisation and staying calm under pressure are what get noticed.
Typical roles
- Hotel operations staff or manager
- Chef or caterer
- Event planner
- Travel and tour consultant
- Cabin crew
- Front office and guest relations
- Restaurant manager
Entry routes in Nigeria
- Any SSCE stream
- Diplomas and degrees in hospitality management, tourism or catering
- Culinary schools, short courses and apprenticeships in kitchens and event companies
- Starting in entry-level service roles and growing on the job
Requirements change. Always verify with the official body, JAMB or the institution.
Skills that matter
- Customer service
- Organising many details
- Teamwork under pressure
- Problem-solving on the spot
- Presentation
By life stage
Where you could start.
Secondary school
Often-linked SSCE stream: Any. Check with your school.
Undergraduate
Hospitality management, tourism, catering and hotel management, home economics. Internships: hotels, restaurants, event companies.
Fresh graduate
Front desk officer, commis chef, event assistant, travel consultant, guest relations.
Young professional
People move in from sales, marketing and creative fields, especially into events.
Vocational routes, entrepreneurship, public service and further study are all valid paths. We don’t show salaries or employment rates without a dated, verified source.
Ask a practitioner
Questions to ask.
Use these in a 15–20 minute conversation with someone who works in this family.
- What does a normal week look like for you?
- What do you enjoy most about the work, and what is hardest?
- How did you get into this field? Were there other routes you could have taken?
- Which subjects, courses or qualifications really matter, and which matter less than people think?
- What skills do you use every day that school didn’t teach you?
- What do people misunderstand about your job?
- If you were starting today, what would you do first?
- Who else should I talk to?
Test it
Ways to check if it suits you
Informational conversation
Talk to one person who does the work, using the questions on this page.
Job description review
Read three real adverts for roles in this family and list the requirements that keep coming up.
Small project
Try a small piece of the work yourself, then reflect on whether you enjoyed it.
Short course
Take a free or low-cost introductory course to test your interest before committing.
Job shadow or workplace visit
Spend a few hours watching the work happen. CPI arranges visits for participants.
Mentor conversation
Discuss what you have found with a mentor or coach.
Official qualification research
Check requirements with the professional body, JAMB, the institution or the employer directly.
Related
You might also explore.
Health & Medical Care
Keeping people well, diagnosing illness and caring for patients, in hospitals, clinics, pharmacies, labs and communities.
ExploreBusiness, Finance & Accounting
Keeping organisations’ money, people and operations in order: accounting, banking, finance, HR and management.
ExploreEntrepreneurship & Enterprise
Starting and growing your own venture, from a small trade to a scalable company, or building new things inside an organisation.
ExploreWant to know if this fits you?
Take the self-assessment, then use your roadmap to test this direction.