A Comparative Analysis on the Career Perceptions of Tourism Management Students Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic

The serious impact of the COVID-19 pandemic also affected educational institutions offering tourism programs and students' perceptions of their future career in the industry. The study determined and compared the career perceptions of Tourism Management students in Far Eastern University Manila, Philippines before and during the COVID-19 pandemic with the end view of providing significant inputs to the development of programs for the tourism students in relation to their career opportunities. Using the mixed methods approach and the simple random and purposive sampling techniques, 196 third year tourism management students enrolled in AY 2020-2021 in a private Institution in Manila, Philippines completed the researcher-made survey questionnaire to gather quantitative data. On the other hand, focus group discussion (FGD) was conducted on six pre-selected student-participants to collect qualitative data. The use of a paired sample T-Test proved that there is a significant difference in the student career perception before and during the pandemic. The qualitative findings revealed that: 1) the Tourism Industry as a major business sector was severely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic; 2) the students perceive their career opportunities in the Tourism Industry during this pandemic as full of uncertainties; 3) implementing a relevant and timely program that will address the students' wants and needs must be put into action to help the students adapt to the current situation. Accordingly, Higher Educational Institutions (HEIs) are encouraged to provide the students a more comprehensive student career opportunity program that will address the changes in student career perceptions and uncertainties on their future career opportunities in the Tourism Industry.