Entrepreneurial Skills Required By Secondary School Graduates for Success in the Tourism Industry in Cross River State, Nigeria

Abstract

This study was designed to identify the entrepreneurial skills required by secondary school graduates for success in the tourism industry in Cross River State, Nigeria. Three research questions and hypotheses guided the study. The study made use of survey research design. The population for the study was 1,332 comprising 112 graduate tourism personnel in the Cross River State Tourism Commission and 1,220 Vocational subject teachers in public secondary schools in the State. The Sample for the study was 356 respondents. A 20 percent proportionate sample was used to select the sample of vocational subject teacher (244 respondents) through simple random sampling technique while the entire population of tourism personnel (112) was involved in the study. A 32 item questionnaire tagged Entrepreneurial Skills Requirements in Tourism Industry Questionnaire (ESRTIQ) was the instrument for data collection and was validated by three experts. Split half and Pearson Product Moment Correlation was used to determine the stability of the instrument and a coefficient of 0.82 was obtained. Weighted mean scores were used to answer the research questions while Independent ttest statistic was used to test the null hypotheses at .05 level of significance. From the data collected and analyzed, it was found out that secondary school graduates required entrepreneurial skills training in planning for establishment of business outlets; implementing the business plan and marketing products in any chosen business outlet in the tourism industry. It was recommended that the identified entrepreneurial skills areas be integrated into the skill training programme of the state so that youths and adults can be trained to take advantage of the business opportunities in the tourism industry.