Comparison of tourism industry interviews of undergraduate and associate degree program of tourism educations: Sakarya University example

It is not always easy to find highly qualified personnel in the tourism industry and only qualified personnel are trained through training. The main purpose of the study is to compare the opinions of associate and undergraduate students of tourism education towards tourism industry. The bottom aim is to determine the opinions of the students towards the tourism industry. In this study, as a result of the theoretical and practical training of the students who are studying at the higher education institutions providing tourism education, the effectiveness of the opinions about the tourism industry in the changes or career choices in the opinions of the tourism industry has been examined. The sample of the research was determined as Sakarya University Tourism Faculty and Karasu Vocational High School, and 789 students, including associate and undergraduate students, were obtained through questionnaires. Differences were determined in terms of their views on the tourism industry in the analysis of class and division in which they studied. It can be said that first and second year students have more favorable / moderate approach to the sector compared to the other classes. It has been found that the participants' parents are significantly different in terms of their views on the industry according to their educational status. According to the obtained data, it was seen that the pre-graduate students had a more favorable view towards the industry than the undergraduate students. Especially, in other dimensions besides the dimension of "tourism social effects", it was determined that associate degree students had a more positive opinion than undergraduate students.