The IFTM Tourism Education Student Summit (TEd Summit) for this year wrapped up on 7 June 2023, and it provided a wealth of scientific insights for the industry’s future growth.
The summit this year featured a wide range of breakthrough subjects, including clientele-expansive and event-driven tourism practises, video marketing campaigns, and sustainable travel.
For instance, João Valentino Flores Bumactao, Juval from Hotel Management Programme and one of the Best Paper Awardees suggests people welcome and embrace using robots at the workplace because they will allow humans “to have more time to invest” in themselves.
Despite admitting to the existence of a widespread robotic threat mentality, João believes that robots are here to take over manual labour from the workplace to facilitate training at higher levels for humans.
Jono Jiang Hanyi of Tourism Event Management Programme and also a Best Paper Award recipient, has run three models on Macao’s annual food festival, in an attempt to identify the popularity levels of its facilities, the reason behind them, and how the popularity levels will affect future audience actions.
Another Best Paper Awardee, Killian Tan Jialong from the Tourism Business Management programme, analysed audience responses on tourism advertising posted on Douyin, the Mainland Chinese version of short video social media TikTok. His project garnered acceptance from the jury, who suggested him utilise a stakeholder perspective to explore the practical implication of this type of advertising.
Commenting on the projects, debuting juror Ms. Vanessa Choi, Senior Hospitality Service Training Manager at MGM MACAU, said the event went far more insightful than her original expectations. “Many topics were seen on the news or social media, such as AI, but this summit has conveyed more knowledge in these areas,” she said.
Describing most of the contents that she heard at the summit as “useful and tourism-related”, she feels satisfied that some academic research was conducted for the area in which she works.
In the meantime, Ms. Kate Kwan, Vice President of The Heritage Society (Macao), feels elated that many students have proposed the adoption of the latest technologies, such as Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR), to help conserve heritage or further promote sustainable tourism. “I found these topics fresh and their findings impressive,” she suggested.
Commenting on the real-life values of these researches, she pointed out that several students discussed museums, of which type they did not expressly mention. “The cutting-edge technologies that they suggested could be extended to entertainment events or products in resorts,” she said in support of the pragmatism of these projects. “They can also be used to enhance experiences on traditional festivals or promote Macao’s history and culture.”
The three students unanimously agreed that the summit has allowed them to practise their interpersonal and presentation skills, as well as a chance to expand their network, to better prepare for the future.
Besides, all of the three students encountered but eventually managed to overcome hurdles during the process. Juval confessed that he was not a very patient reader, When Killian, an eager reader, struggled to gain access to literature helpful to his research. Killian’s challenges were eventually overcome with the assistance from IFTM’s librarians. Meanwhile, Jono pointed out that he did not have enough resources to conduct larger-scale research, for the fact that a larger sample would have improved the representativeness of his project, and his jurors thought likewise.
Looking into the future, Jono revealed that the past ten months saw his interest in academic research grow, so he may pursue further studies. As for Juval, he is open to all possibilities, although admitting to having greater interests in entertainment positions in local tourism enterprises, due to “past event projects organised at IFTM,” he explained.
All three students expressed hearty gratitude to their supervisors for their assistance and guidance through this journey spanning ten months.
TEd Summit welcomed two inspirational keynote speakers, Professor Song Haiyan, Associate Dean and Chair Professor of School of Hotel and Tourism Management, Mr. and Mrs. Chan Chak Fu Professor in International Tourism, Hong Kong Polytechnic University and Mr. Gonçalo Monteiro, Vice President of Hotel Operations, The Londoner Macao.
Sands China Ltd., co-organiser of the summit, aims to cultivate tourism professionals with an international vision by partnering with tertiary institutions, thus supporting the SAR government’s policy of Building Macao through Talent Training with concrete actions.
