
As part of the teaching process, the School of Hospitality, Tourism and Events organized a virtual Tourism Speaker Series for Tourism and Events students, titled “Business of Tour Operators”. The session aimed to give exposure to students about tour operators’ business, basics and consideration while dealing with tourists. Around 80 students from various programmes such as Bachelor of International Tourism Management (Hons.), and Bachelor of Event Management (Hons.) joined this 90-minute session.
Adjunct Prof. Anthony Wong, Group Managing Director, Asian Overland Services, Tours and Travel, Malaysia was invited as a guest speaker to share his knowledge in the tour operator business and his vast experience in dealing with a variety of inbound tourists.
During the session he covered several essential components such as basics of considerations for a homestay with an example of KAMPUNG SUNGAI SIREH, a collaboration to assist the local community on sustainability, points to consider while producing tourism products, one of the best examples of DEDARI, TAMAN NEGARA – community-based tourism project.
He also highlighted that it is essential to manage the internal customers – people – employees, making them satisfied, passionate, and interested. And the concept of the devil is in detail the operation point. The session also included marketing tactics and some details about virtual tours and their management.
Lastly, he also provided additional information on the impact of COVID-19 on the Tourism industry and vaccine passport as a potential strategy to overcome the consequences of the pandemic. The Q & A session were interactive as students asked questions regarding the projects and sustainability. The lecture series was a very insightful session for the students.