Tourism education and internships: a metaphor analysis

The objective of the present study was to examine tourism undergraduates’ perceptions of their education and internship experiences through metaphorical analysis whilst striving to raise the awareness of tourism educators towards using metaphors. A qualitative methodology was used to explore this phenomenon. Participants were senior students (n = 94) from the Faculty of Tourism at Akdeniz University in Antalya, Turkey. The data were collected with a semi-structured questionnaire and processed using content analysis. Next, metaphors found in answers were categorised into different groups, and relevant excerpts were identified. The results provide insights useful to both tourism education providers and tourism establishments. Conclusions, limitations and future research directions are also presented.