Career Perception of Tourism and Hospitality Undergraduates

Abstract

An increasing predisposition and persuasion can be seen among students, to join tourism and hospitality courses offered by the state universities. If today’s undergraduates are to become the professional practitioners of the industry tomorrow, it is vital to understand their perception of tourism and hospitality employment. Numerous factors influence the career perception of tourism and hospitality undergraduates. Thus, this study aimed to investigate whether the parents, gender, university, peers and internship influence on career perception of tourism and hospitality undergraduates. A survey design which was quantitative in nature was used in this empirical study. A self-administered questionnaire was used to collect data from the participants. The sample of 60 respondents for this research selected using a convenience sampling method. Descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation analysis and regression analysis were used to analyze the data with the support of SPSS. The study revealed that parents, peers and internship have a significant influence on career perception of tourism and hospitality undergraduates. However, the influences of gender and university were insignificant. The study recommends an awareness program for parents on tourism and hospitality industry and its careers, developing the university career guidance program, training of peers and providing better internship conditions to inculcate the positive career perception among undergraduates