A Phenomenological Study of the Lived Experiences of CIHTM Participants in the Work and Travel Program.

Tourism professionals expect universities to produce graduates who could bring and perform functions based on industry standards. The main purpose of this study is to explore the lived experiences of CIHTM participants in the work and travel and come up with a program as an output to enhance support for participants to help them resolve possible existing common problems during the program. This study adopted the phenomenological and was conducted thru zoom which is suitable and convenient for both the researchers and participants in this time of the pandemic. The researchers gathered data through in-depth interviews of samples gathered through snowball sampling. Findings of the study have shown that the program contributed to participants' personal and professional skills, they also acquired different opportunities and benefits from it. However, there have been reports of unfavorable encounters of students during the program such as being homesick, cultural differences, the problem with locations and directions, climate, discrimination, and accident in the workplace. It is suggested to have a program like “Kamustahan Tayo” online program which will help the participants to cope with the feelings of Homesickness, stress, and other psychological problems that emerged as a common theme for one of the statements of the problem of this study about the psychological and emotional effects of work and travel program to the participants.