Changing Perception of Students toward Hospitality Industry: A Comparative Analysis

Hospitality Management Institutes have seen a tremendous growth in the recent years. More and more students are inclining to pursue hospitality related course from the institutes at national level or at different universities or from private institutes. The popularity of this course among the young aspirants is because of various factors such as, job opportunities, different avenues, popularity of various television program based on cooking skills, parents of students already into hotel business, eligibility criteria, entrepreneurship plans, overseas job opportunities, passion and interest, etc. Whenever a student takes admission to the hospitality course he does think positive about the industry. But by reaching to the final year this positivity turns into the negativity and the student takes a decision either not to join the industry or to pursue something else. Therefore, a study is conducted to understand the difference between the perception of 1st year and final year students studying hospitality courses toward the hospitality industry. A structured questionnaire was designed in which 21 variables were included on the basis of review of the literature. Further, T-test was applied to find out the significant difference between the perceptions of 1st year and final year students. Fifteen variables were found where no significant difference exists between the perception of 1st year and final year students. Six variables were found with a significant difference between the perception of 1st year and final year students. The results show that overall a significant difference is there between the perception of 1st year and final year students and null hypothesis is rejected. The study also reveals the fact that 1st year students do have positive perception toward the industry as compared to the final year students.