The next excellent work in the series about the successful diploma projects of students of Varna University of Management is the one of Andrea Chiang, studying in the International Hospitality Management Programme.

Present yourself.

My name is Andrea Chiang and I am a 4th year student at VUM about to receive my bachelor’s degree in International Hospitality Management.

Just a few days ago you submitted your final dissertation. What was the topic that you chose?

The topic chosen for my dissertation was “Political Instability in Honduras and its Impact in the Hospitality Industry”, focusing specifically on accommodation establishments, restaurants, tour operators and travel agencies.

Why did you choose exactly this topic?

The reason I choose this topic is because my future career will be developed in this sector in Honduras, and due to the fact that the past couple of years political turmoils have affected a great majority of the businesses in the country I wanted to gain further knowledge about what this sector has been through and what are the actions these businesses take in order to mitigate the negative impacts.

How much time did it take you for the overall writing of the dissertation?

The whole process of the dissertation took about 5 months, I’m a very organized person so I planned a writing schedule which helped me work on this project at a comfortable pace.

Tell us about the obstacles you had to go through when writing?

The biggest challenge I faced throughout the whole process was the data collection, the first months after distributing my questionnaire I had a hard time getting respondents that would participate in the completion of it. Surprisingly, following the weeks after a quarantine due to COVID-19 in Honduras was mandated, I experienced a surge in responses after sending reminders to my questionnaire contact list during that time period.

What would you recommend to your colleagues that are about to write their dissertations?

My advice to any student preparing themselves to write a dissertation is to, first of all, choose a topic that you’re passionate about because you’re going to spend a couple months dedicating your time to it. Second, have an open communication with your supervisor and try to apply every feedback they give you into your work. Lastly, when the time comes just start writing and don’t forget that the first draft is not the final draft so don’t be afraid and keep on writing.