TS,Friday 30 September 2011
The Malaysian Qualifications Agency’s (MQA) stakeholders workshop on the programme of standards for the hospitality, tourism, culinary & foodservice was well participated by institutes of higher learning, both the public and private, and NGOs such as the Malaysian Association of Tour & Travel Agents.
There is no doubt that the standards, ranging from certificate to doctoral degree, have been further fine-tuned by the collective efforts of such an elite field of academics and practitioners.
However, some fundamentals need to be addressed, such as standardising the definition of various terms, which are confusing not only among the academics but also among the public and the industry.
The word ‘tourism’ is a good example. It is similar to ‘engineering’. Studies based solely on engineering or tourism are too wide and time consuming. As such, students are offered a specific field or sector to choose from, so that the knowledge acquired is more useful for their careers and relevant to the industry.
In the study programme structure of all tourism sectors, academic knowledge of tourism should be included in the common core. If it is made the programme core, the undergraduates’ area of concentration would be largely academic.
This is exactly what happens in the case of graduates with Bachelor’s Degree in Tourism. They may be an exact fit to work in government agencies such as the Tourism Ministry, but do not have the deeper knowledge and skills needed to work professionally in any tourism sector.
Something must be wrong when over 90% of tourism graduates do not work in the tourism industry while top graduates of any other discipline face little difficulty finding jobs in their respective fields.
While most of the best and brightest students naturally opt to study a licensed profession, many of those enrolled for tourism studies are mediocre at best academically. However, they can have equally successful careers if trained to be highly skilled.
Unfortunately, many tourism students have no career plans, not just from the time of enrolment but also upon completion of their studies. They are easily sold to the idea that they can work in any tourism sector when in fact they are not be trained for any.
Many people, especially the young, are gullible and superficial. They associate tourism with glamour and the chance to travel, hence the popularity of tourism courses. As such, the word tourism is added to the name of hospitality courses such as “Hospitality & Tourism”.
The word ‘hospitality’ has also causes confusion. Everyone should be hospitable to others, especially visitors, and not confined to tourism front-liners. However, ‘hospitality’ as an industry encompasses the accommodation and food & beverage sectors.
As such, hospitality courses are already wide enough and do not need to incorporate the word tourism, which should be studied as a common core anyway.
For those who wish to work in hotels, studying hotel management would be a better approach.
Likewise, for those more interested in food & beverage, it is better to specialise in one of the many skills rather than be a half-past-six on several. For example, highly skilled chefs are very well paid and always in demand anywhere.
To add to the confusion, the word “tourism” has been used to represent three sectors: travel, leisure/recreation and event and is one of the four main areas of studies for hospitality, tourism, culinary and foodservice programmes under the MQA structure.
The experts should realize that we are at either work or leisure during our waking hours. Work can be income generating or for a cause. Leisure hours can be spent attending to our physical, mental or spiritual needs. When leisure time is spent on traveling, we become tourists.
As such, the word ‘leisure’ encompasses ‘tourism’.
It is better for the four main areas of studies to be hospitality, food and beverage, travel, and attractions.
The sectors under travel are the agents and companies organising or operating travel, tours, transportation and events.
The sectors under attractions would include shopping malls, theme parks, zoos, museums, skating rinks, durian orchards and other facilities that tourists can visit and have a good time.
With the Internet, principals are able to market their products to tourists and travellers directly, dispensing with the intermediaries. As such, travel agents that do not add value to the supply chain have been made redundant by e-tourism.
Institutes of higher learning that are not aware of the important role that creative travel and tour operators can do to generate tourism are getting rid of ‘tourism courses’ that are limited to reservations and ticketing.
The Malaysian Association of Tour & Travel Agents ought to engage with the academics in institutes of higher learning and conduct career talks for the students to promote a better flow of graduates joining the travel industry.
YS Chan
Kuala Lumpur
PS. ‘hospitality’ should be replaced by ‘accommodation’
If hospitality is used, then it has to be centred on
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