Study motivations and study preferences in the Korean hospitality and tourism field

Many universities, two-year colleges, and graduate schools in Korea strive to increase the number of hospitality and tourism programs to accommodate the explosive popularity of the hospitality and tourism management field. This study aims to identify reasons why students in Korea at both the undergraduate and graduate levels want to study hospitality and tourism management and why they want to pursue such degrees abroad. The results of this empirical study of 540 Korean students majoring in hospitality and tourism management revealed that self-actualization, job opportunity, and overseas experience were major motivators for undergraduate students, while graduate students chose self-actualization and scholastic achievement as the two most important motivators. In the analysis of motivations to study hospitality and tourism management abroad, undergraduate students cited cultural experience as the main reason, while graduate students chose the desirable educational environment as the main motivator.