Influence of Internships on the motivation of hospitality students to continue career paths within the Hospitality Industry

In the recent years the hospitality industry has experienced quite a lot of challenges that added up to its notorious reputation that is built upon culture of overwork, low salaries and difficulties associated with career enhancements. Thus it does not come as a surprise that a lot of workers are deciding to disengage from the industry in question, and if the negative trend continues to evolve simply there will be no employees to drive the industry. Therefore it is important to solve this issue by potentially focusing on the talent pool of the young hospitality explorers who get to know the industry through their internships. This research was conducted in order to examine the potential issues that can occur during the internship, and thus act as the discouraging factors to pursue career in Hospitality in the future. Additionally, the research was also aimed at discovering whether the international students experience more challenges during their experiences when compared to local studetns. The research was done by distributing an online survey to hospitality students studying in RIT Croatia, Dubrovnik and University of Dubrovnik. The results suggested that the majority of students feel uncertain in regards to their future careers within the hospitality because of the issues/challenges they have faced. However due to this research it was possible to identify the areas causing dissatisfaction and thus the findings could be used as possible ideas that once implemented can help to slow down the potential employee turnover among the young workforce