Are internship programs encouraging or discouraging?-A viewpoint of tourism and hospitality students in Turkey

Abstract

This study aims to explore the views of tourism and hospitality students' of summer internship programs they participate. The results of the survey received from 603 students across Turkey reveal that after their internship experiences almost 18.3% of the students do now wish to work in tourism and hospitality sector while a significant proportion of them wish to work in different areas of tourism and hospitality they had originally intended. This may mean that a minimum of $100 million may be wasted per annum. The study has important practical implications for tourism and hospitality education. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.