tourism management

As part of the Sports Centre Management and Sports Tourism module, APU School of Marketing & Media organized an excursion for students of the BA (Hons) in Tourism Management programme. The group visited the Royal Selangor Club (Sports Annexe) in Bukit Kiara.

As part of their visit, club executive, Ms. Venny, provided an extensive briefing on the club’s structure, membership, activities and patronage, followed by a walkabout that demonstrated the facilities of the 133-year-old club. The visit provided students with first-hand experience, knowledge and understanding of the overall management and operations of a sports club.

We are glad to share several positive feedbacks obtained from the students who visited, as below:

“The visit to RSC made me help understand the concept of a sports club and how they run the business. It was an interesting experience and the briefing by Ms Venny was good.” – Miftah Krakatau (Indonesia)

“I had the opportunity to personally observe the facilities and services offered by a prestigious club in Kuala Lumpur.” – Abdullah Rashwan (Maldives)

“The visit helped us to know how a sports club run their business and this will help me in my career in the future” – Abdullah Ahmed (United Arab Emirates)

“I am impressed with the way the club provides not only a number of facilities and services to its members but also for leisure and dining. We had an opportunity to dine in. The food was awesome!” – Ainur Fatihah Zailani (Malaysia)

“What an eye opener for me. Have learned a lot from this trip as it brings benefit to society.” – Kong Huey Qian (Malaysia)

As we all know, classroom learning aims to provide an overview of a subject matter and its theories; whereas out-of-classroom experiences are proven to be effective ways to enrich students’ learning experiences.

As part of their curriculum, students of intake UC2F1701 who were under the BA (Hons) in Tourism Management programme by School of Marketing and Media (SOMM) recently conducted a tour to Pangkor Island. It was a practical assignment of the Retail Travel Operations module, in which students were required to discover the real-life retail travel environment and operational practices, as well as the challenges within the industry, ranging from pricing, marketing to supplier costing. They were given the opportunity to conduct the A-to-Z processes of crafting and implementing a tour package, in which these processes were similar to practicing tour operators in the industry.

The students attained positive feedbacks from their peers, who were students who participated in the tour. It was an enormous gain for the students, as they were exposed to the extensive tour-planning and operational processes through this experience. Now, they are ready to set foot within the industry – may we wish them all the best as they progress through their careers in the future!

Under the supervision of Sujatha Thayan from the School of Marketing & Media (SOMM), students from intakes UCDF1506 BIT and BSA successfully organized a Team Building and Education Tour to Langkawi as part of their In-course assignment for Managing Services module. This tour also meant to provide students out-of-classroom exposure with regards to organizing and planning services products within the services and tourism industry. 

This education tour was aimed to enhance the students’ knowledge on the operation of service organizations such as hotels and tourist attractions. As part of the team building activities, the students also organized team kayaking and Frisbee, to strengthen the relationship and bonding among the participants.

Kudos to the students for putting their skills into practice; we are glad to see them enjoying themselves and gaining new experiences at the same time.

“It is better to travel ten thousand miles than to read ten thousand books.”

Apart from learning academic knowledge in classrooms, our Tourism Management students also conducted an industrial visit to Royal Selangor, in order to gain practical experience and knowledge in the real-world tourism industry, under the coordination of Mr. Pathmanaban and Ms. Fiona from the APU School of Marketing & Media (SOMM).

The students learnt about the history of Royal Selangor - Begun as a little wooden working with an "attap" rooftop more than 132 years ago, Royal Selangor was later renovated as a building with Tudor-style architecture. The Main Club house, affectionately known as "The Spotted Dog", was situated at the "Padang", now known as Dataran Merdeka in Kuala Lumpur, where cricket matches and different games occasions were once held. As a prestigious Club with 6.500 members, Royal Selangor has a sports annexe at Bukit Kiara. 

Upon their visit, the students enhanced their understanding on managing and operating a clubhouse, as well as an overview of the clubhouse’s exceptional sports, entertainment and business facilities, formal and informal restaurants, lounges, landscaped garden views as they underwent a complimentary tour. It was an enjoyable yet beneficial experience for all students who participated, and they truly enjoyed the unique out-of-classroom experience.

As part of their initiatives to expand the students’ knowledge in the practices of the tourism industry, the School of Marketing and Media (SOMM) recently organised a trip to attend the 4th Edition of the prestigious UN World Tourism Conference, held in Eastern & Oriental Hotel in Georgetown, Penang from Monday, 17 October to Wednesday, 19 October 2016.

The theme of the event was “Tourism Delights: Delivering the Unexpected”, in which it focused on ideas and strategies implemented by leading tourism policy makers to enhance the current tourism industry. The conference brought pioneering tourism leaders, policy – makers and experts from various sectors of the tourism industry to convey their knowledge and experiences with 750 participants who represented many countries around the globe.  The conference was graced by  Minister of Tourism & Culture, Dato' Seri Mohamed Nazri bin Abdul Aziz and a total of 12 of the industry’s top leaders attended including PEMANDU CEO Datuk Seri Idris Jala and Secretary General of MOTAC, YBhg. Tan Sri Dr. Ong Hong Peng.

12 students and 6 lecturers from the school were also delighted to attend the welcome dinner hosted by Dato' Seri Mohamed Nazri bin Abdul Aziz, Minister of Tourism & Culture, Malaysia.  The conference ended with a heritage tour that showcased Georgetown’s intricate heritage, in which the students had the opportunities to have the first-hand experience in tour groups at Penang.

It was an enriching experience for the staff & students who attended, these industrial trips will certainly enhance our students’ knowledge, and will prepare them for the underlying challenges ahead, as they graduate as a Tourism Professional. Below are some student testimonials after attending the programme:

“I truly thank Mr. Naban for giving me the amazing opportunity of letting me know about this conference. It was very motivating and I have learnt so many things, obtained so many memories and received a lot of educational knowledge I would have otherwise never received.” – Lay Shar Hlaing, BA (Hons) Tourism Management student from Myanmar

“I really appreciate all the lecturers for their encouragement in letting us attend this event. One of the most memorable and educational trips I have ever taken. I loved every second of it and cannot wait for another conference like this!” -   Nor Syazyiana Rosli, BA (Hons) Tourism Management student from Malaysia

On 25th August 2016, the tourism students of UC3F1606TRM organized a talk by Mr. Eric Lau, the owner of Travel Smart Sdn. Bhd. The session was attended by Tourism students and academicians. Mr. Eric shared his experience of running his company, how he got into the tourism business and what Travel Smart has done to expand its business from a startup to include MICE for more than 10 years.  

Sathiya, a tourism student doing his internship at Travel Smart also shared his experience and how the company helped him grow his ideas and to give him a better understanding about being in a tourism field.
Overall, it was an invaluable experience and exposure to the how the tourism industry operates.

“It gives me a clear understanding of being in the tourism field is not about travelling purposes. I join this field because of the mindset that I will be travelling a lot but through this talk, I thank him for changing my point of view ” – Nor Syazyiana Rosli, Level 3 Tourism Student of APU

As part of their effort to expose students to “first-hand” learning experiences that focus on the robust tourism and services industry, 48 students and 8 lecturers from the School of Marketing and Media participated in an educational study trip to the Ministry of Tourism & Culture in Putrajaya recently.
 

The highlight of the trip was an informative briefing by YBhg Dato Haji Azizan Noordin, Deputy Director-General (promotion), Tourism Malaysia on marketing and promotions, advertising creatives and updates on the current tourism scenario in Malaysia. After that, the group of lecturers and students were brought on a tour to the Ministry of Tourism’s Resource Centre, in which they had the opportunity to browse through archived documents and collections to further understand the operations of the ministry.

We are pleased to share that our students under the BA (Hons) Tourism Management programme successfully organised a 1-Day tour package to Kuala Selangor for 22 students recently, as part of their academic requirements for the Retail Travel Operations module at Year 2 of their studies. The entire processes of planning, coordinating, managing, promoting and executing the event were conducted by the students; in which they gain hands-on experience in respective areas of retail travel operations.

The 1-Day tour was inclusive of visits to the Bukit Melawati, Nature Park, Anak Dara Tomb as well as a seafood dinner. The highlights of the tour were the Eagle Feeding session in the Kuala Selangor river and the Fireflies Watching session in Kampung Kuantan. These activities were eye-opening experiences for most of the participants, especially international students, who experienced the beauty of Malaysia’s natural environment for the first time.

Under the teamwork and excellent skills demonstrated by Ainur Fatihah, Surayyo Akhmedova, Miftah Krakatau and Taimur Tariq, Year 2 Tourism Management students, the trip was a remarkable success, as participants provided positive feedback and support. 

“Awesome and enjoyable trip... Looking forward for the next one...” – Amna Batool (Saudi Arabia)
“The trip was perfectly planned. Although the weather was hot, we managed to see the beautiful sunset on a rainy day” - Lizyana Voni (Sabah, Malaysia)
“This is an experiential learning for the students… These are the skills where potential employers will be looking for” – Mr. P Pathmanaban (Tourism lecturer)

The hands-on experience provided a good platform for students to practice their skills and to ensure that they are competent to face challenges from the current tourism industry; with such experience and skills, we believe that our students are ready to accommodate the industry’s requirements that lie in the professional world ahead. 

We are pleased to share that our Tourism Management students gained another hands-on industry experience in the field of retail travel operations, as they participated at the Malaysian Association of Tour & Travel Agents (MATTA) Fair, which was organised in the second week of March at Putra World Trade Centre (PWTC), Kuala Lumpur.

Our students were attached to MP Travel and Tour Sdn Bhd and Sipadan Dive Centre Sdn Bhd as they enhance their communication skills while addressing the available tour packages to visitors at the booths. This 3-day industrial attachment encouraged the students to take advantages of opportunities available for them, in order to serve the tourism industry to their best. 

We believe that by participating in industrial attachments like this, students will be able to gain more real-world knowledge as a tourism industry professional; in which such experiences will prepare them for upcoming challenges in the industry by expanding their perspectives on the importance of knowledge, skills and attitude outside classrooms.

On 4^th January 2016, 8 tourism students from APU were given the opportunity to render their services with Intercruises Shoreside & Port Services, the 2^nd largest cruise company in the world. Students were assigned to handle the company’s turnaround cruises at West Port. Their duties included check in of passengers, luggage tagging, directing passengers to various points for 3,700 pax.

This opportunity helped participating students gain valuable experience and provided them with a greater outlook for their future. Intercruises Shoreside & Port Services was immensely satisfied with the quality of service rendered by APU’s students. Below are some of the feedback gained from both parties:-

Cruise Operator

“ Immensely thanking all of you for the great job and support rendered to Intercruises ( Ground handler ). I will prepare the appreciation letter.” - Ms Sujeithra Nair ( Intercruises )

Participating Students

“ This is the greatest moment in APU ” by Zarina Arifova ( Khazakztan )

“ Great experience “ by Surrayo Akhmedova ( Uzbekistan )

“ Thank you for providing us such a great opportunity ” by Sonam Zangmo ( Bhutan )

“ Great opportunity to work in the cruise industry ” by Alaa Alnafouri ( Syria )

“ Wonderful journey to be experienced ” by Zaid Ammar Housni ( Syria )

“ No words to describe how I feel throughout this job, a golden opportunity for us ‘’ by Lay Shar Hlaing ( Myanmar )