Article 2016

Tourism and hospitality internships: influences on student career aspirations

Current Issues in Tourism
Journal · Vol. 19 · Issue 6 · pp. 513-527
Abstract

Research shows that students will often change their career choices relating to the tourism and hospitality industries following work experiences. This qualitative study investigates how participation in one specific type of work experience, an internship, impacts on student participants' career choices and goals. While most respondents did indeed change their career aspirations following the internship, these changes reflected a shift within the industry rather than a shift against entering the industry. Many participants indicated they had switched their goals away from pursuing a career in hospitality in favour for developing a career in tourism, while the reverse was not apparent. © 2015 Taylor & Francis.

Keywords

Author Keywords

Internships work experience career goals

Index Keywords

student Tourism qualitative analysis research work Participatory approach tourism development
Author Affiliations
The University of Queensland Business School, Brisbane, QLD, Australia
Funding & Acknowledgements
No funding information
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