Get to know Barb Bowden, area managing director of Loews Hotels at Universal Orlando, and learn how tourism inspires career paths in Orlando (Universal CityWalk pictured).

Of tourism’s many benefits, perhaps the most immediate is the impact it can have on people who work in the travel and hospitality industries — and Barb Bowden of Loews Hotels at Universal Orlando is a prime example.

“I always wanted to be in the hotel business,” says Bowden. “I traveled with my family when we were younger, and I was always just mystified and loved looking around hotels and kind of wondering behind the scenes how they worked.” Learn about Barb’s career at the video below.

Discover: Tourism Benefits You

Tourism Grows Careers

With her entire post-college career spent in the hotel industry, Bowden no longer has to wonder how hotels work behind the scenes. What’s more, her career has grown from the front desk to area managing director of a major hotel brand.

Today, that trajectory would take her from earning up to $34,000 a year as a front desk agent to as much as $105,000 as a hotel general manager — and Bowden has gone even further than that. Her journey has also given her unique insight into the multiple career opportunities made possible by the tourism industry.

“There are so many different jobs in hospitality,” she says. “I think most people know front desk, maybe most people know restaurants, but they have no idea that this really is kind of like a small city. We have technology. We have sales, marketing [and] revenue management. We even have a job here that’s a rum captain. Is that not the coolest job?”

Bowden further shares that job diversity applies to the entire Orlando destination — and it’s all thanks to tourism.

“I think Orlando is such an amazing place to live,” says Bowden. “We have just amazing arts, we have sports, we have restaurants, we have the natural beauty of Florida. And that’s really what I fell in love with in this hospitality community.” See how else tourism helps you.