BENEFITS OF TRAVELING AS A COPING STRATEGY TO THE STRESSORS OF SELECTED BS TOURISM MANAGEMENT STUDENTS

Throughout the years, the problem of stress has been considered one of the major health concerns that affect the mental well-being of students. Moreover, it is one of the serious problems that jeopardize millions of students around the globe. On the other hand, scholars and researchers produced various ways to cope with stress, which led to the proliferation of research claiming that traveling helps reduce stress among individuals. With this, researchers conducted a study that scrutinizes the concept of traveling and discovers its benefits as a coping strategy to the stressors of BS Tourism Management Students of Manuel S. Enverga University Foundation, Lucena City. The study is quantitative and uses the descriptive research design. Furthermore, an online survey questionnaire, specifically the “Google Form,” was used to elicit data and gather well-grounded information about the perception of BSTM students to traveling as a coping strategy to their stressors. Researchers came up with 146 tourism students as their study's respondents after utilizing the simple random method. Moreover, results and ratings were descriptively analyzed using weighted mean, frequency, and percentages. Finally, analysis of variance was used to determine the significant difference between the students' level of awareness on stress management when grouped by their demographic profile. As a result, the study has determined the different factors and stressors such as Family and peers relationship stressors, personal stress, academic stress, and environmental stressors that perpetuate stress among BS Tourism students. In addition, the study also established different programs that can be used in eradicating stress among tourism students. As a result, intervention programs, specifically the stress management program, online webinars, and free consultation, were proposed.