Motivation of students to study a tourism programme in India

ABSTRACT

Every year thousands of students enrol in tourism and hospitality management courses to make a career in the tourism industry. The issue, why students study tourism and hospitality programme is still under-researched. The present study investigates the motivations of students to pursue a tourism and hospitality management course at the post-graduation level. The study was conducted during the year 2017–2019 on a cohort of 758 students from 30 universities in India. The present study reports the key factors explaining students’ motivations and discuss their relevance in the tourism education scenario.

KEYWORDS:

• Tourism education
• study motivations
• career intentions
• India

Acknowledgments

Authors are thankful to the head of the departments of tourism and hospitality management of various universities in India for granting permission to conduct interviews and collect data from students.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Shyju P J

Shyju P J is working as an Assistant Professor in Tourism Management at Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, India. His research interests include sustainable development of tourism, cultural tourism management, and tourism education.

Naresh Tanwar

Naresh Tanwar is pursuing research in Tourism Management at Banaras Hindu University, India. His research area is tourist behaviour.