The ASTA Foundation Funds Research about Travel Industry Hiring Crisis

22 Aug 2007  2053 | Cambodia Travel News

The ASTA Foundation (an education-based subsidiary of ASTA) recently funded a research study by The State University of New York at Morrisville titled, Why Students Do Not Choose Travel as a Career. Research findings indicate a general disinterest in the travel agent profession is the result of a lack of information about the travel industry on the part of students, parents and guidance counselors. Participants included college students, college professors, and high school guidance counselors from New York State, who answered questions pertaining to the attractiveness of travel as a career.

The research findings indicate students are most influenced by their parents when choosing majors; few are influenced by their high school guidance counselors. These results are consistent with those that show the selection of a college major usually does not occur until long after contact with high school guidance counselors has ended. However, parental influence remains a factor in student decisions. Perceivably, the best way to influence a student_s career choice is by educating parents of the benefits of working in the travel industry.

Recommendations for improving parent/student outreach include developing various mechanisms to assist high schools and colleges gain more accurate and comprehensive information about careers in the travel industry. These efforts could focus on providing career seminars, as well as mentoring efforts that partner industry professionals with students, teachers and guidance counselors. Travel industry leaders also need to focus on localized public relations campaigns that help students understand the interesting facets of a career in travel and the number of employment opportunities available to those pursuing a career in travel. ASTA is currently running a North American Precis Syndicate (NAPS) article, promoting travel as a career. This article is distributed to newspapers across the country. ASTA has also created consumer ads promoting travel career, which will run in USA Today

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