Student perception of career opportunities in Hospitality and Tourism Industry in Universiti Malaysia Kelantan City Campus

This research investigates the perceptions of tourism and hospitality students towards career in the industry. It analyses differences in the opinions of two groups of students, tourism courses and hospitality courses towards careers in the tourism and hospitality industry. This will ascertain if one group is more committed to a career in the industry than the other. A quantitative study investigates factors that students find important in choosing a career, as well as their perceptions of different aspects of a career in the industry. In total, 196 completed surveys were collected. The findings showed that there are significant differences between the two groups, especially when comparing the extent to which respondents believed tourism and hospitality offered the career factors that students found important. The results also showed that students in hospitality studies courses are more likely to believe that the tourism and hospitality industry offers these factors than students in tourism courses. This has implications for tourism and hospitality educators and employers in Malaysia.