It is pointed out that the rise in national and international tourism movements positively affects employment in the tourism industry. Depending on the need for qualified employees in tourism, it is observed that the number of tourism programs has increased. This study aims to observe the views of tourism students concerning the occupation, determining the factors influencing their career choices, and to analyze these factors based on different variables such as their previous experiences in tourism, their willingness in choosing it as a career, and whether their families have similar educational background or not. Quantitative method was used and a questionnaire survey was conducted on 415 undergraduate students. According to analysis results, it was determined that the factors affecting the reasons for vocational preferences of the students were social status and individual relations, payment-supplementary payment, industrial commitment and person fit, prestige and promotion. When examining the participation level of the students regarding these factors; it was ascertained that most participated factors were industrial commitment and person fit, social status and individual relations, while promotion was the least. Meanwhile, it was determined that the reasons for vocational preferences of the students differed across the tourism department they studied, work experience in tourism, willingness on preferring the tourism department and family members having tourism training.
Vocational preference, tourism training, undergraduate students