COLLEGE OF INTERNATIONAL TOURISM AND HOSPITALITY MANAGEMENT

POST EVALUATION ON DOMESTIC TOURS AMONG TOURISM STUDENTS

Introduction:
Tourism refers to the temporary travel of individuals outside their usual
environment, an activity which is more common today than ever before. In 2012,
there were more than one billion international tourist arrivals worldwide and
international tourism receipts hit a new record of 837 billion euros, equaling to a
4% increase from the previous year. In addition, another five to six billion tourists
are estimated to travel domestically every year. It is clear that the tourism
industry is a significant contributor to the global economy, as it generates export
earnings not only through international tourism receipts but also through
international passenger transport. Consequently, international tourism accounts
for 30% of the worlds exports of services, 6% of overall exports, and is ranked
fifth as a worldwide export category, right after fuels, chemicals, food, and
automotive products. (UNWTO 2013.)
Educational tours are learning experiences outside the classroom. These
trips supplement classroom learning by providing students with an opportunity to
see the actual places, artifacts, flora and fauna, or phenomena that are described
in textbooks and lectures. They also enrich the students experiences by
exposing them to situations that are new to them. Educational tours may also be
undertaken by family groups, whether homeschooling or not. At the vocational

COLLEGE OF INTERNATIONAL TOURISM AND HOSPITALITY MANAGEMENT

and college level, highly specialized field trips may be taken in order for students
to gain firsthand knowledge on their major. (Wikipilipinas)
Educational trips that form a part of the school curriculum are very
valuable as they provide the students the opportunity of learning through travel,
especially to places that they may not otherwise get to visit. Apart from this, the
trips also provide relief from the drudgery that academic study sometimes
becomes, an opportunity for close interaction with peers that students enjoy so
much, and a chance for the teacher to observe and interact with the student in a
structure different from and more informal than the classroom. (J. Krishnamurti,
2015)
Tourism is the pleasure and business activity which involve people
travelling to destinations outside normal place of residences for over short of time
(Chilembwe, 2010). On the same, The United Nations World Tourism
Organisation (UNWTO, 2010) interprets tourism as activities of persons travelling
to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than on
consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes not related to the
exercise of any activity remunerated from within the place visited.
In Africa, education tourism or edu-tourism refers to any "programme in
which participants travel to a location as a group with the primary purpose of
engaging in a learning experience directly related to the location. It is comprised
of several sub-types including ecotourism, heritage tourism, rural/farm tourism,
and student exchanges between educational institutions. The notion of traveling
for educational purposes is not new and its popularity in the tourism market is

COLLEGE OF INTERNATIONAL TOURISM AND HOSPITALITY MANAGEMENT

only expected to increase both locally and abroad. (Educational Research and
Study Tourism in Africa)
More important, however, these trips emphasize the attentive mind,
enabling a sense of discovery and a quality of quietness. And this emphasis need
not come in the way of such trips being fun, as they are meant to be. (S.
Gopalan, 2015)
As far as the benefits of the tour are concerned, Waditwar says that during
such tours, students can actually see and enrich their knowledge of places and
people theyve learned about in the classroom. He emphasizes that students can
gain a deeper understanding of real life situations and trends than a book can
ever convey. Perhaps most important of all, students gain new insights into their
own culture, and a more global perspective. (P., Waditwar, 2012)
Rickinson (2011) suggests when applied to students learning in an
educational trip, program evaluations should consider what students want to say.
However, the research studies that explore students feelings and experience in a
tour are limited. In other words, most tour evaluations rarely consider what
students are feelings in a trip program.
Thinking as an experiential learning the study trips are conceptual
programmed related with the core course content the tri-dimensional space and
the complexity and power of landscape. Thus, they respond to many objectives,
namely knowledge, skills and experiences. For sure, all together form a powerful
combination and exploration of academic and cultural domains and experiences.
In this context, they include unquestionably the positive socializing and fun

COLLEGE OF INTERNATIONAL TOURISM AND HOSPITALITY MANAGEMENT

between students and teachers, more often emphasized by academy in general.

(Freire, M. 2011).

Objectives
The study aims:

1. To determine the perception of the students on their local tours in

terms of:

Cost

COLLEGE OF INTERNATIONAL TOURISM AND HOSPITALITY MANAGEMENT

Learning Experience

Satisfaction

Conformity with the Itinerary

Safety measures

2. To determine the experiences of the students on the tour package in

terms of:

Accommodation
Attractions and Environments
Transportation
Convention

CHAPTER 2
METHODOLOGY

Research Design

This study will utilize the descriptive method of research. As widely

accepted, the descriptive method of research is a fact-finding study that involves
adequate and accurate interpretation of findings. Descriptive research describes

COLLEGE OF INTERNATIONAL TOURISM AND HOSPITALITY MANAGEMENT

a certain present condition. Relatively, the method is appropriate to this study

since it aims to describe the perception and experience of 4 th year tourism
students on their local tours.
The researchers opt to use this kind of research considering the desire to
acquire first hand data from the respondents so as to formulate rational and
sound conclusions and recommendations for the study.
In terms of approach, the study will employ both qualitative and
quantitative approaches. The quantitative approach focus on obtaining numerical
findings use with the survey method. The interview on the other hand, made up
the qualitative approach of the study as this focus on personal accounts,
observations, and description and individual insights of the respondents. This
study employs the combined approach so as to overcome the limitations of both
approaches.

Research Locale:
The study will be conducted at Lyceum of the Philippines University
Laguna. The research study is to be implemented inside the classroom of
Lyceum of the Philippines Laguna. The classroom was clean, well-ventilated,
air-conditioned and had enough chairs for every student who will participate in
the activity.

COLLEGE OF INTERNATIONAL TOURISM AND HOSPITALITY MANAGEMENT

Respondents of the Study:

The respondents of the study will be coming from the 4 th year tourism
students of Lyceum of the Philippines Laguna who had participated on their
domestic tours in Baguio and Palawan. All of the participants on the survey will
be selected through random sampling. This sampling method is conducted where
each member of a population has an equal opportunity to become part of the
sample.

Data Gathering Tool

The instrument to be use in gathering data for the study was the survey
approach and evaluation, which is commonly used to explore opinions according
to respondents that can represent a whole population. The survey is appropriate
in this study because it enables the researcher in formulation of generalizations.
Specifically, two types of direct-data survey will be included in this study. These
will be 4 Likert questionnaire surveys and interviews. Interviews with 4 th year
tourism students in the academy will be conducted to provide further insight
about the results of the survey. Interview questions will focus on the research
problems and questions. The direct-data type of survey is a reliable source of
first-hand information because the researcher directly interacts with the
participants. The questionnaire survey respondents will be given ample time to

COLLEGE OF INTERNATIONAL TOURISM AND HOSPITALITY MANAGEMENT

have their opinions regarding their experiences and perceptions towards their
domestic tours on Palawan and Baguio. Their own intuitions are necessary in
identifying its strengths and limitations.

Moreover, two types of data will be used: the primary and the secondary
data. The primary data will be derived from the answers of the respondents in the
self-administered questionnaire to be prepared by the researchers. In addition,
the information that will be obtained from the interviews will also be a primary
research data that will support the study. The secondary data on the other hand,
will be derived from the findings stated in published documents and literatures
related to the research problem.

Data Analysis

After the questionnaires were collected, the responses will be tallied.

Several tables will be prepared to effectively present the data that has been
gathered.

Categorization of items will be done. The organized data will be

computed and the result will be interpreted.

COLLEGE OF INTERNATIONAL TOURISM AND HOSPITALITY MANAGEMENT

To get the frequency of each answer, the researchers will use data and
frequency to compute for the percentage of each answer according to the degree
of their perception on the tours cost, learning experience, satisfaction, conformity
with the itinerary and safety measures observed, as well as the degree on how
much did the experience affected them in terms of accommodation, attractions
and environments, transportation and convention.

The weighted means will also be used to determine the degree of

agreement or disagreement of the respondents on the different perception and
experience of tourism students on their local tours in Baguio and Palawan.

Review of Related Literature

Experiential Learning
Experiential learning is a process, through which students develop
knowledge, skills, and values from direct experiences outside a traditional
academic setting. Experiential learning encompasses a variety of activities
including internships, service learning, undergraduate research, study abroad,

COLLEGE OF INTERNATIONAL TOURISM AND HOSPITALITY MANAGEMENT

and other creative and professional work experiences. Well-planned, supervised

and assessed experiential learning programs can stimulate academic inquiry by
promoting interdisciplinary learning, civic engagement, career development,
cultural awareness, leadership, and other professional and intellectual skills. (The
Regents of the University of Colorado, 2016)

The tourism and leisure industries, in which sectors such as recreation,

hospitality, entertainment, events, and sport are included, exist in order to provide
consumers with various experiences (Morgan et al. 2010).

Experiential learning is founded in the work of Dewey , Lewin, and Kolb

whereby learning is initiated in the works of an interaction between the learner
and his or her environment. Specifically, Kolb described learning as the
transformation of knowledge from experiences. Dewey suggested all experiences
are not equally educative with some being more engaging from cognitive,
emotional, and physical standpoints. Field trips, especially the ones described in
this article, tap students cognitive, emotional, and physical faculties. Lewin
theorized that learning is a continuous cycle whereby learning arising out of
concrete experiences is then transformed through observation and reflection to
give rise to generalizations about phenomena, as well as to develop abstract

COLLEGE OF INTERNATIONAL TOURISM AND HOSPITALITY MANAGEMENT

conceptualizations about future events or experiences. (American Society for

Horticultural Science, 2016)

In a nutshell, research suggests that experiential learning can help a student

develop a positive attitude towards life, encourage acceptance of responsibility,
promote community involvement, develop power of thought and help them
understand their strengths and weaknesses in the real world context, thereby
inspiring personal growth through the development of global competencies.
(American Journal of Business Education July 2010)

Students Perception of their learning experience on their tours:

Foreign

MANCOSAs MBA students and academics who returned from the recent
Shanghai Study Tour to China gained insights into international business
practices; leadership and how the cultural imperatives impacts on business. The
scholarly tour to China was aimed at offering participants knowledge of
international business practices; adding a practical component to the MBA
degree offered at MANCOSA and building international education relations. The
Shanghai Study Tour emerged following a collaborative agreement between

COLLEGE OF INTERNATIONAL TOURISM AND HOSPITALITY MANAGEMENT

MANCOSA, Regent Business School and the Shanghai University of

International Business and Economics (SUIBE). (MANCOSA 2013)

From a learning perspective MBA students benefited in that opportunities

arose for the sharing of ideas; they established networks and participants gained
knowledge that would be useful when undertaking their jobs in the diverse
sectors they represent. (MANCOSA 2013)

Local
The educational tour in Baguio City gave the tourism students of Our Lady
of Fatima Academy a better understanding of the lessons they have learned in
school. The theories discussed in the classroom were validated with the
experiences they had discovering the city. For them, it was glorious moment of
learning, improving and having fun. (OLFU.edu)

The Department of Information Technology of Aurora State College of

Technology makes learning more fun and exciting by bringing its ninety IT
graduating students in the two most prominent cities in terms of technology in an
Educational Tour conducted last December 4-6, 2013. Such Tour made the
student aware and acquainted on the real application of what they have been
learning inside the classroom. Also, such visits will help them realize and

COLLEGE OF INTERNATIONAL TOURISM AND HOSPITALITY MANAGEMENT

appreciate the multi-faceted workplace and wide scope of ICT careers available
in the industry. (ascot.edu.ph)

Factor affecting Students Satisfaction on Educational Tours:

In this study, the researchers investigated the factors that influence
students satisfaction in an educational tour experience. Some literature
suggested that a meaningful tour should address students educational need, or
be based on school curriculum, or state standards. ( Edwards, & Murray, 2010).
In order to have a high quality field trip, environmental educators and program
planners should consider the quality of learning materials, structure, and teaching
and learning strategies.

On the other hand, it is a common belief that certainly moments in

peoples lives characterized by experiences of positive emotions, such as joy,
interests, love, and satisfaction. Research focused on students tour learning
experiences suggested that affective perception and social interaction with others
has a strong influence in creating a meaningful tour experience. For example,
Clines (n.d) study suggested that students emphasized the importance of social
interactions with others on a tour. These studies pointed out the salient things
that students remembered the most, such as a party, hiking and campfires, were
not only the things that they did with others, but also involved their affective

COLLEGE OF INTERNATIONAL TOURISM AND HOSPITALITY MANAGEMENT

perception, such as happy, afraid, likes and dislikes. These research studies
suggest that affective perception and social interaction are important factors to
consider in providing a meaningful tour experience for students. ( S., Carlson, H.
Wang, 2010)

Safety Measures on Educational Tours:

Security of the students should be the foremost responsibility of the higher
education institutions concerned. HEI authorities shall inform parents or
guardians on the HEI guidelines on the conduct of educational tours.
Briefing and debriefing program shall be undertaken by the concerned HEI
before and/or after the educational tours. Briefing shall include among others,
precautionary measures that will be undertaken by the concerned HEI with the
concerned students and parents/guardians. As a general requirement, the HEIs
following their institutional policy should require the students to submit the
parents/guardians consent. Debriefing program should include among others,
reflection of the learning experiences duly documented in the learning journal.
(Guidelines and Policy on Educational Tours, 2012)
All those involved in the school trip, including supervisors, pupils and their
parents, should be informed of who will take charge in an emergency, the named
back up cover and what they are expected to do in an emergency. The group
leader/adviser/professor in charge would usually take charge in an emergency

COLLEGE OF INTERNATIONAL TOURISM AND HOSPITALITY MANAGEMENT

and would need to ensure that emergency procedures are in place and that back
up cover is arranged. They should liaise with the representative of the tour
operator if one is being used. Professors in charge of students during a visit have
a duty of care to make sure that the pupils are safe and healthy. They also have
a common law duty to act as a reasonably prudent parent would. Teachers
should not hesitate to act in an emergency and to take lifesaving action in an
extreme situation. (Collins, M. 2010)
First aid should form part of the risk assessment. Before undertaking any
off-site activities the head teacher or the group leader should assess what level
of first aid might be needed. On any kind of visit the group leader should have a
good working knowledge of first aid and ensure that an adequate first-aid box is
taken. For adventurous activities, visits abroad or residential visits it is sensible
for at least one of the groups teachers to be a fully-trained first-aider. All adults in
the group should know how to contact the emergency services. (Collins, Michael,
2010)
Cost
The school should ensure that parents have early written information
about the costs of the visit, how much will come from school funds, and how
much each parent will be charged or asked to contribute. Parents should be
given enough time to prepare financially for the visit. It may be useful to break the
costs down into subheads such as travel, hostel, meals etc. (M. Collins, 2010)

COLLEGE OF INTERNATIONAL TOURISM AND HOSPITALITY MANAGEMENT

Planning Transport
According to (Michael Collins, 2010) the school must give careful thought
to planning transport. The main factors to consider include are passenger safety,
the competence and training of the driver to drive the proposed vehicle and
whether the driver holds the appropriate valid license, number of driving hours
required for the journey and length of the drivers day (including nondriving
hours) and the capacity and experience of driver to maintain concentration whether more than one driver is needed to avoid driver fatigue.
The school is responsible for ensuring that aircrafts and buses were hired
from a reputable company. Professional operators of buses and aircrafts are
legally required to be licensed. Schools using operators to transport pupils should
ensure that the operators have the appropriate public service vehicle (PSV)
operators license. When hiring transport, the school should ensure that seat
belts are available for student. When booking aircrafts, the group leader should
check that the company used has appropriate insurance.
Students using transport on an educational tour should be made aware of
basic safety rules including arrival on time and wait for the transport in a safe
place and wearing of seatbelt and stay seated whilst travelling on transport.

Tour package

COLLEGE OF INTERNATIONAL TOURISM AND HOSPITALITY MANAGEMENT

The Package Travel Act defines a package tour as a combination of prearranged services offered for an inclusive price, entailing at least: (1) transport
and accommodation; or (2) transport or accommodation, 60 together with some
additional travel service essential to the package as a whole. Furthermore, it is
offered, other than occasionally, by a business organizing or retailing travel
services for payment; and covers a period of more than twenty-four hours or
includes overnight accommodation (Package Travel Act)

This study is also based on the definition by (Middleton et al. 2010: 429)
whereby a tour package is defined as a quality assured, repeatable offer
comprising two or more elements of transport, accommodation, food, destination
attractions, other facilities and related services such as travel insurance. They
are marketed to the general public, described in print or electronic media, and
offered for sale to prospective customers at a published, inclusive price, in which
the costs of the product components cannot be separately identified. Typically,
package tourism refers to mass tourism even though, by definition, package
tours can also mean highly individual and tailor-made products targeted for
example to various niche tourism markets.

In the current thesis, the definition by Tung and Ritchie (2011) is applied
and a tourism experience2 is understood as an individuals subjective evaluation

COLLEGE OF INTERNATIONAL TOURISM AND HOSPITALITY MANAGEMENT

and undergoing of events related to tourism activities before, during, and after
the trip. A tourism experience, such as a package tour, is practically everything
that a tourist goes through during the vacation.

In every case the package is assembled from the five basic elements of
the overall tourism product (destination attractions and environment, destination
facilities and services, accessibility of the destination, images of the destination
and price to the consumer) plus any value from their own tour operations, such
as branding, convenience, price guarantees and contractual agreements
(Middleton et al., 2010: 123, 430).

Even though the development of package tourism clearly describes a

Western phenomenon, package tourism has become extremely common also in
Asia where the increasing tourism demand has accelerated the rapid growth of
the mass tourism market (Chen & Hsu 2012; Wong & Lee 2012).

In the tourism industry, package holidays include airfare, accommodation,

rental car and relaxation activities. They are bulked together by tour operators
and purchased by tourists at an all-inclusive price. A package is distinguished
from the combination of fewer elements. Packaging normally refers to price
bundling of tourism services and products. This is a central principle to develop

COLLEGE OF INTERNATIONAL TOURISM AND HOSPITALITY MANAGEMENT

and improve the quality of tourism services as well as to capture consumer

surplus from an economic point of view. Price bundling is said to be a very
significant tool for revenue maximization for a firm. The whole essence of a
package holiday is bundling numerous separate services into one package.

Packaging products together is a powerful sales and marketing technique

that will add value to your product and trigger people to buy it. The idea behind
package deals is to combine products together and offer them at a lower price
than you would pay if the products were purchased individually. Discounting this
way increases perceived value along with benefits-it saves money in the long run
and provides a good balance of value and benefits in the mind of your
customers. Travel, where a vacation is "all-inclusive," is one of the industries that
frequently use bundling to improve value. (S., Carlson, H. Wang, 2010).

Conceptual Framework

DOMESTIC TOURS OF
TOURISM STUDENTS in:
Baguio
Palawan

COLLEGE OF INTERNATIONAL TOURISM AND HOSPITALITY MANAGEMENT

Perceptions in terms
of:

Cost
Learning Experience
Satisfaction
Conformity with the
Itinerary
Safety measures

Experiences in terms of:

Accommodation
Attractions and
Environments
Transportation
Convention

Figure 1. Conceptual Framework of the Research

The framework shows that evaluating the domestic tour of the students
will be measured based on the degree of agreement/disagreement on the
presented factors that affects the perceptions of tourism students on local tours
and their experiences on tour packages. They will be asked to answer the
questionnaire to assess their insights on the said tour.

Questionnaire
Name (Optional): __________________________
Put a check in the box if you SA strongly agree, A agree, D disagree, or SD
strongly disagree with the statements.
PERCEPTION
COST
The final tour price was reasonable enough in considering the provided
amenities during the whole tour.
The final tour price had been precisely calculated exactly that no additional
expenses had been incurred and shouldered by the participants during
the whole trip.

SA

SD

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The trip justified its cost.
The prices of additional offer at the tourist destination (i.e. prices of food and
drink, prices of souvenirs, prices of handcrafted products, prices of
excursions, prices of beauty and relaxing programs) were favorable.
The final tour price was evenly distributed to itineraries, accommodations and
transportation costs.
LEARNING EXPERIENCE
The acquired learning from the tour is aligned to the course.
The trip provided significant knowledge relevant to future career.
The participants gained a lot of new knowledge and experiences in this tour.
The tour gave us direction as to where we are going.
The participants found this tour to be intellectually stimulating.
SATISFACTION
Expectations had been met and objectives were achieved.
The students have a positive opinion about this tour.
Joining this tour is worth every peso paid.
Participating on this tour was a right decision.
Every need was sustained that made the tour very satisfying.
CONFORMITY WITH THE ITINERARY
The itinerary presented was absolutely followed and observed.
The scheduled itinerary was comfortable and convenient to us.
The flow of the itinerary was carefully planned.
The itinerary was mapped out accurately to ensure our on time arrival.
The participants enjoyed the time allotted for personal matters.
SAFETY MEASURES
Orientations and precautionary measures were being discussed before
proceeding to another destination.
Kits and assistance were always available and easily accessible to everyone in
terms of emergency.
Advisers/Professors always see to it that everything was under control.
The tourist attractions provide a safe and secure environment for visitors.
The parents signed a waiver to secure the participants safety.
EXPERIENCE
ACCOMMODATION
Lodging, food and all other services were very convenient.
The hotel provides a relaxing atmosphere.
The room was well-equipped and very clean upon arrival.
The staffs were prompt, reliable and friendly.
Management was available to solve problems.
ATTRACTIONS AND ENVIRONMENT
The places that had been visited provided pertinent experience that is worth
remembering.
Any destination made everyone feel that the tour was a must.

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The destination contributed to my education, especially knowledge on history.
The tourist destination respects the natural environment.
The natural landscapes of the attractions were well preserved.
TRANSPORTATION
The time consumed in travelling from one destination to another did not spoil
the experience.
Punctuality was always observed.
Transportation services were well organized.
The transportation vehicle/airfare was comfortable and relaxing.
The transportation vehicle/airfare was on good condition.
CONVENTION
The convention provided knowledge that can be integrated to the course.
The topics were relevant and of great importance to prepare the participants.
The objectives of the convention were met.
The convention had provided participants a very nice location and comfort
ambiance for the discussions of issues and our exchanges of information.
The speakers were knowledgeable and dynamic.