The Hospitality, Tourism, and Recreation industry sector includes California’s fastest-growing industries: travel, recreation, and food and hospitality. Nearly 900,000 jobs are directly supported by the travel industry, making tourism the state’s third largest employer; and the industry is expected to expand by more than 2 percent per year through 2014. Food service occupations, ranging from food production and service to the study of human nutrition and wellness, bring in over $970 million a day and account for 8 percent of jobs worldwide. The California restaurant industry is the largest employer in the state, providing 957,000 jobs, with annual projected sales of $51.5 billion and sales tax revenues of $4 billion. Students choosing a career in this industry sector are eligible for positions throughout the world, with potential for advancement and ready availability of continuing employment. To support this burgeoning sector, colleges and universities throughout California and the United States offer courses and degree programs in this field.

This sector encompasses three distinct yet related career pathways: Food Science, Dietetics, and Nutrition; Food Service and Hospitality; and Hospitality, Tourism, and Recreation. Each pathway includes a coherent sequence of courses, starting with a foundation course that leads to one or more concentration courses and a capstone course. The concentration courses focus on technical preparation, including career awareness and exploration, which is based on industry-approved curricula. The necessary knowledge and skills are acquired within a sequential, standards-based program that encompasses hands-on, project-based, and work-based instruction as well as leadership development, internship, mentoring, work experience, job shadowing, and cooperative career technical education.