Knowledge exchange and networks: a new destination for tourism internships?

Abstract

Traditional host-student internships always aim to provide positive real-world learning outcomes for students. The industry partners are often considered to benefit from the arrangement, primarily through recruitment opportunities and achieving corporate and social responsibility objectives. Supplementary host benefits can include knowledge exchange, such as receiving innovative ideas and the latest theories from the students, as well as developing a collaborative relationship with the university. It is these, usually peripheral, benefits that emerged as the key positive outcomes for the tourism industry stakeholders of an innovative destination immersion internship, conducted by the School of Tourism, The University of Queensland. A third key outcome, identified through the in-depth interviews, and not usually associated with internships, was engagement with the destination network. This paper reports on the industry participant's expectations, experiences and satisfaction with the destination-based internship program. In particular, the research considers the benefits and challenges beyond the established internship literature. The findings of this study show that there is broader scope and reciprocity from internship programmes than has previously been identified in the literature.