Future of Oman Tourism: Perception of the Students in Tourism Studies

Oman’s ‘Vision 2040’ aims at diversifying its economic activities from oil and gas sector to tourism sector. The vision and mission statement aims at developing tourism as a sustainable economic sector. The objective of the study is to analyze the various factors affecting the students’ perceptions towards choosing Tourism studies as their main stream. The study was conducted with 223 students of tourism studies who were selected on the basis on random sampling and were contacted through a well-defined questionnaire. The primary data was collected, compiled and thoroughly analyzed to arrive at conclusions. A critical analysis was carried out using null hypothesis, chi-square and ranking tests. The study reveals that the factors like non-discrimination of gender, promotion opportunities, and physical working conditions play a crucial role in motivating most of the students in choosing tourism studies. Further this paper critically analyzes the discouraging factors for their aversion towards tourism industry. Our empirical results reveal that the high risk of accidents, non-tourism spouse preferences, Omani traditional values discourage the attitude towards choosing tourism as their future job and hence the tourism studies. The study further demonstrates that there is a strong association between the motivating factors and the reasons for students choosing tourism as their studies. There exists necessity for the Government and the related sponsoring institutions to look into these factors and encourage our young tourism students who will in return render their full support towards diversifying Oman’s future economy towards tourism.