Tourism Student Perceptions of a Travel Agency Career

Travel agencies, at the end of the century, face an uncertain future, with fierce competition, both internal and external. As the industry becomes more complex and sophisticated, travel agent managers will require correspondingly increasing skills and the ability to adapt to a changing environment. Meeting these challenges tomorrow may well depend on the industry's ability to attract today a cadre of excellent employees that can be groomed for future leadership. This study finds, however, based upon tourism students' view of the travel industry in Singapore, that travel agencies are not seen as an attractive career option, and concludes that the industry's future success, perhaps even its survival, may depend upon improved marketing to these internal customers.