Abstract:

The guest perception on service quality and hospitality provided by tourism organisations has direct effects on their operational success in the long term. In this sense, the study of hospitality and the level of employee engagement is crucially important especially for tourism organisations. This study aims to determine the level of tourism students’ hospitality culture. Moreover, the sample group, which is considered as a representative subset of the population, has been studied in terms of their levels of understanding of tourism as a profession. In this study, quantitative data were collected through questionnaires in January 2019. The research sample consists of a total of 508 students studying tourism in different departments. Data analysis was performed using SPSS 21.0, a statistical package program that is frequently used in quantitative research. The main findings of the study show that tourism education has a positive impact on the level of tourism students’ hospitality culture. In the light of the findings, some recommendations were presented to contribute to the literature and the tourism industry.

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