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Not just about the numbers, but the quality
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After five years in China, Mr Edmund Chua, then Regional Director for Singapore Tourism Board (STB)'s regional office in China, has returned to headquarters to assume the role of the Assistant Chief Executive, Planning & Sector Development. This means, as he tells P@SSPORT, "ensuring that Singapore has all the necessary ingredients that go into the making of the tourism offer" - from ensuring an adequate supply and mix of hotel rooms to attracting the right quantity and quality of manpower for our tourism industry.
You could call it a sweet irony. In the posting he was in for the last five years, Mr Edmund Chua worked in the land of plenty - plenty especially when it came to a massive labour force to pick and choose from.
From 1 May 2008, the former Regional Director for STB's office in China will take on the position of Assistant Chief Executive, Planning & Sector Development, where among his various roles, he will be responsible for industry development work in travel and hospitality business, infrastructure, manpower and technology.
There will be challenges, particularly in the area of manpower as demand surges with so many tourism developments in the pipeline. |
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Mr Chua however is not a man who is easily daunted - after all, in his five years in China, he and his team grew the market from less than 500,000 in 2002/2003 to crossing that first one million in 2006 and inching up to 1.1 million in 2007.
The achievement made Singapore the first outbound market (excluding Hong Kong and Macau) to cross the one millionth visitor mark from mainland China.
Building a competitive edge with quality
Looking ahead to his new charge of manpower development, Mr Chua said: "We know that manpower will be a challenge for Singapore, particularly with all the new developments coming up.
"And it's not just about finding the numbers but finding the quality to deliver the kind of experience people associate with a quality destination.
"Having worked in China for the last five years, one thing comes across clearly - we can't compete on numbers. No matter how big you build, someone will always catch up.
But what people can't catch up on is quality of service."
Mr Chua believes that in developing its manpower needs, Singapore has to pursue both a strategy of getting enough people to join the industry and, at the same time, arming them with the right skills sets to deliver a service quality other destinations will talk about and travellers will return for.
"It has to become a key attribute on how people make their decision on where to travel to. It has to come to a point where people will say, let's go to Singapore because we feel so good when we are there." |
"Service mindset" is critical
In his speech delivered at the STB Tourism Industry Night on 31 January 2008, Minister of State for Trade & Industry, Mr S Iswaran, also acknowledged the need for both manpower and the infrastructure to ensure an "excellent visitor experience".
On manpower, he said that the issue was not just quantity but also quality - "there is a pressing need for more people who are well-trained and have a service mindset".
Last October, the STB and the Workforce Development Agency (WDA) launched the Tourism Talent (TOTAL) Plan, committing S$360 million over three years to train 74,000 tourism industry workers. |
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This includes a S$30 million Training Industry Professionals in Tourism (TIP-iT) scheme that was introduced by the STB in 2007, to support tourism establishments seeking to develop their manpower by acquiring specialised tourism-related skills or new capabilities.
Said Mr Iswaran: "STB and WDA will intensify their recruitment efforts by creating greater awareness of the exciting and rewarding opportunities in tourism careers. It is important that industry players closely engage our government agencies in these and other efforts to ensure that we proactively address this manpower challenge."
Mr Chua said: "People are looking beyond remuneration these days for a rewarding career. With so many new iconic tourism developments coming up, those looking for enriching work experiences can look to the flourishing tourism industry for a wide range of exciting job opportunities."
"We are encouraged to note that at the recent Career 2008 exhibition held in February this year, some 30,000 visitors showed a keen interest in tourism jobs and courses and the exhibiting companies in the tourism sector received about 12,000 job applications," added Mr Chua.
Last October, the STB launched Tourism Careers - A Journey of Discovery, to enhance the attractiveness and improve the image of the tourism industry as an employer of choice. Since the launch, the STB has been working with industry partners through roadshows and career fairs, to find the right people with the right skills to fill vacancies as well as create awareness of the different types of tourism jobs available.
"The destination for quality"
Beyond manpower development, Mr Chua's new role also covers travel and hospitality - which means he is also responsible for ensuring there is enough infrastructure (from tourist guides to travel agents to coaches and coach bays) in the tourism industry and adequate room supply to meet demand.
"My role is to help the industry get up to speed to 2015 when we aim to receive 17 million arrivals. At the macro level, that means ensuring we have the capacity to handle the volume.
"We believe we have the potential capacity to handle the 17 million visitors when they arrive in 2015; it's just a question of planning and executing it well"
On hotel supply, Mr Chua said: "We were working on this two years ago which is why we now have a steady stream of rooms coming in. We will have about 12,000 rooms added in the next three to four years - that's about a 30% increase in room inventory."
In 2007, about 1,000 hotel rooms came into the market. Last year, the average hotel room rate in Singapore grew by 23.1% over 2006 and the occupancy rate averaged 87%.
Said Mr Chua: "This goes back to our value proposition as a quality destination. Singapore may not be the place for cheap rates but we are certainly the destination for quality experiences."
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Blend of local initiatives and foreign talent to meet manpower needs
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Even as Singapore makes significant strides in drawing more locals to the tourism industry, it will look to foreign sources to augment its manpower needs of 50,000 to 60,000 by 2010.
Speaking at the opening ceremony of Food & Hotel Asia (FHA), Senior Minister of State and Industry, Mr S. Iswaran, said that in anticipation of the robust demand for manpower, the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) had liberalised the dependency ceiling in the services sector from 45% to 50% from January 2008 onwards.
"This additional flexibility, together with the progress made under the TOurism TALent (TOTAL) plan, will put us in good stead to meet the challenging manpower demands to attain and maintain the service standards of a first-world tourist destination," he said.
He added that the TOTAL plan, implemented by the Workforce Development Agency (WDA), the MOM and the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) in October 2007, was beginning to deliver results. |
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"This year, the positive publicity for the tourism industry generated a total of 2,400 first-choice applications for 2,200 openings at our local polytechnics for tourism related courses.
"In Ngee Ann Polytechnic, the strong demand for their Diploma in Tourism and Resort Management drove the O-level cut-off mark to a low of 10 points, equivalent to other popular courses such as aeronautical engineering and biomedical sciences. Our ITEs have also seen heightened interest in tourism related courses with an increased enrolment of 1,100 students this year.
"Taken together, our Poly and ITE student intake in tourism courses in 2007 was 2½ times that of 2005 and we expect it to grow further. This bodes well for the future of the industry with such a strong pipeline of skilled manpower."
The Minister also shared that for the first two months of 2008, 2,000 individuals were upgraded under the Workforce Skills Qualifications (WSQ) programme in the F&B and tourism industries.
"Together with the 7,400 workers upgraded last year, these individuals, who represent a good mix of both new entrants and existing workers in the industry, will greatly contribute to Singapore's continuing tourism growth." |
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He said the industry had also created opportunities for mature workers and the previously economically in-active workers through government schemes like Flexi-Works! and Advantage!.
Citing another scheme - Training Industry Professionals in Tourism (TIP-iT), he shared that Resorts World at Sentosa (RWS) would be utilising this scheme to send over 1,300 of their new hires in batches to Genting Highlands and Universal Studios Park for up to three months to gain exposure to casino and theme park operations."
Turning to the food industry, Mr Iswaran said it had witnessed strong growth. In 2007, total trade by Singapore's F&B industry rose to nearly S$18 billion, an increase of 16% over 2006.
Dining accounts for 13% of Singapore's tourism receipts, making it the third largest tourist spending item after shopping and accommodation.
Recognising the importance of food safety to the F&B business, he said SPRING Singapore had launched the Food Safety Programme in partnership with the National Environment Agency (NEA) and the Restaurant Association of Singapore (RAS) to help food companies acquire the necessary capabilities to be HACCP (Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point)-certified.
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S$1million Hospitality Scholarship Fund
Jointly offered by the Singapore Tourism Board (STB), Singapore Workforce Development Agency (WDA) and the University of Nevada Las Vegas Singapore (UNLV), the Hospitality Scholarship aims to develop talents for the tourism industry via the Bachelor of Science Degree in Hotel Administration programme offered by UNLV. Worth up to $40,000 per successful applicant, this scholarship is suitable for all Singaporeans and PRs who are keen to embark on an exciting tourism career as well as existing tourism personnel seeking to upgrade themselves professionally. UNLV is accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities and approved by the Singapore Ministry of Education as a specialized Institute of Higher Learning. For enquires and details, please visit: http://www.unlv.edu.sg
Tourism Career Roadshow at AMK Hub
For two days, AMK Hub’s Exhibition Hall will be transformed into a tourism career hub. Various employers from the tourism industry, like hotels and attractions, will host a career roadshow.
AMK Hub, Exhibition Hall (Basement 1)
23 & 24 August 2008 (Saturday & Sunday)
11am to 9pm
Info-tainment series, Tourism Insiders
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For five consecutive Saturdays, starting from 23 August 2008, a new info-tainment series, Tourism Insiders, will be aired on Channel 8, at 9pm. Targeting the economically inactives, this series aims to introduce some of the careers suitable for this group of potential workers in the tourism industry, giving them insights into the experiences and intrinsic rewards tourism workers get from working in the tourism industry. Catch us on:
Tourism Insiders
Channel 8
23 & 30 August, 6, 13 & 20 September (Saturdays)
9pm
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