Understanding generation Y's attitudes towards a career in the industry

This chapter examines the perceptions, attitudes and career intentions of Generation-Y students who are currently studying tourism or hospitality management at an undergraduate level in Australia. An online survey was conducted on 379 students from tertiary institutions in Australia. A qualitative survey using a blog site was conducted on nineteen respondents. Findings show that having direct experience working in the tourism and hospitality industry may cause students to acquire negative views towards pursuing a career in the industry. An alarming finding is that overall more than one-third of the respondents claim that they will not work in the tourism and hospitality industry after graduation. Even more alarming is that a staggering 42.4% of the respondents with work experience claimed that they would not pursue a career in the industry, with almost all (92.6%) citing the experience of working in the industry as the main reason for this decision. This clearly shows that working in the industry does have a major negative impact on respondents' intentions to pursue careers in the industry.