Tourism industry career prospects and the business environment: Evidence from Canada and Macau

Abstract

Previous researchers have undertaken detailed examinations of the factors impacting on aspirant perceptions of tourism and hospitality careers. This paper moves beyond personal and internal dimensions to explore business conditions in the cities where hospitality and tourism students are studying or where recent graduates are making their careers. By examining the prevalent business environments in cities in both North America (Calgary) and in Asia (Macau), the researchers show how such settings influence the perceptions of hospitality and tourism aspirants towards their industry futures, including peer influence.

Tracing hospitality and tourism graduates’ career mobility

“…Low wages and bad working conditions were major reasons for graduates in Switzerland to leave tourism (Heller, 2008). Perceived status of hospitality industries can also impact on the commitment of Macau graduates to enter the industry (Tung et al, 2018;Wan et al, 2014). Richardson (2009) suggests that students have unrealistic expectations about their career path.…”

Helping a Lost Tourist: The Effects of Metastereotypes on Resident Prosocial Behaviors

“…While previous tourism research has explored stereotypes in a number of different contexts, such as stereotypes in ethnic enclave tourism (Woosnam et al 2018), stereotypes in tourism education and career prospects (Tung and King 2016; Tung, Tang, and King 2018), stereotypes toward service providers (Luoh and Tsaur 2014), media representations of stereotypes (Caton and Santos 2009), and stereotypes in destination marketing (Bender, Gidlow, and Fisher 2013), much less research attention has been given to the effects of metastereotypes in HTIs. In contrast to stereotypes, which focus on one’s preconceptions of others, metastereotypes refer to individuals’ beliefs about how their ingroup (i.e., those with a shared identity) is perceived by others (Vorauer et al 2000).…”

The Tourist Stereotype Model: Positive and Negative Dimensions

“…Such exchanges would allow students to experience the impact of tourist stereotyping and self-stereotyping (i.e., at the early stage when they regard themselves as tourists to the later stage when they assimilate to their new roles as temporary “hosts” of the destination to visiting friends and relatives). It may also allow students to reflect more deeply on how such settings may influence peer perceptions toward their future career aspirations, particularly for students in tourism and hospitality (Tung, Tang, and King 2018).…”