Changing Perceptions of Tourism as a Respectable Career Choice for Omani Women
Räisänen, Jaana (2018)
Räisänen, Jaana
Hämeen ammattikorkeakoulu
2018
All rights reserved
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2018101015876
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2018101015876
Tiivistelmä
Tourism in Oman is projected to offer 500 000 new jobs by 2040, but the sector has challenges in attracting local employees, especially women. Tourism is widely not perceived as a respectable career choice for women in the society.
The aim of the thesis was to find solutions for how the perception of tourism can be influenced to assist in lowering the threshold for Oman Tourism College (OTC) female students to choose tourism as a career and how the OTC’s women in tourism network (Lady Leaders in Tourism Network) could be used best in the process. The qualitative research applied insider action research with focus group discussions and desk research as data collecting methods. The focus group discussions with OTC female students and the network participants were held in the 3rd annual event of the network in March 2017.
Awareness raising of tourism and careers in tourism and developing tourism education with the sector to be more practical were the main outcomes of the focus groups.
The network is proposed as a CSR program between OTC and the sector companies and stakeholders, aligning with three UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): Gender Equality, Quality Education and Decent Work & Economic Growth. A change cycle through network activities is presented to increase the number of Omani women joining tourism education and starting a career in tourism, to the increase of the overall number of Omani women in tourism, to women being more empowered in tourism, in training and as entrepreneurs.
The aim of the thesis was to find solutions for how the perception of tourism can be influenced to assist in lowering the threshold for Oman Tourism College (OTC) female students to choose tourism as a career and how the OTC’s women in tourism network (Lady Leaders in Tourism Network) could be used best in the process. The qualitative research applied insider action research with focus group discussions and desk research as data collecting methods. The focus group discussions with OTC female students and the network participants were held in the 3rd annual event of the network in March 2017.
Awareness raising of tourism and careers in tourism and developing tourism education with the sector to be more practical were the main outcomes of the focus groups.
The network is proposed as a CSR program between OTC and the sector companies and stakeholders, aligning with three UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): Gender Equality, Quality Education and Decent Work & Economic Growth. A change cycle through network activities is presented to increase the number of Omani women joining tourism education and starting a career in tourism, to the increase of the overall number of Omani women in tourism, to women being more empowered in tourism, in training and as entrepreneurs.