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Taylor’s Case Study: Staying Resilient in the Tourism and Hospitality Industry

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08 Dec 2022

6 Min Read

Professor Dr. Neethiahnanthan (Academic Columnist)

IN THIS ARTICLE

While we’re in the midst of recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic and are facing its effects, it has definitely left us a lot more resilient and ready to face new challenges and crises in our own different ways. One industry that was greatly impacted and is still recovering from its blow is the tourism and hospitality industry. 


Professor Dr. Neethiahnanthan, Executive Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences & Leisure Management, shares how a more sustainable travel and tourism business model in Malaysia needs to be looked into and implemented for the sake of the industry’s future.

How Research Helps the Travel and Tourism Industry

Q: Can you share more about your research project on travel and tourism recovery in Malaysia?
 

A: Previously, the impact of the pandemic on the tourism businesses and the imminent need for border reopening to resuscitate the industry, which was on the verge of collapse, was a hot topic. Hence, the need to address issues surrounding the capacity and capability of the travel and tourism stakeholders to meet the future demand for travel and tourism. 

 

One of the research that I’m working on is a collaborative project, with University Malaysia Sabah, that looks at the business of travel and tourism in Malaysia from a strategy and business model which touches on inclusivity and the future of work perspectives.

 

This business model helps to look at what can happen in the event of another crisis in the future so that the tourism industry doesn’t have to suffer as it did during the pandemic. Tourism is very prone to crises so we need to know what we can do to make business resilient in terms of destination, tour operators, and all businesses involved. Additionally, I’ve recommended that on-the-ground readiness is crucial in ensuring we reboot the tourism sector on the right path amidst great optimism. 

 

This research would cut across a number of UN sustainable development goals (SDGs) especially due to the impact of the pandemic. This includes SDG 5 on gender equality as well as SDG 10 on reduced inequality, especially in tourism, SDG 8 on decent work and economic growth has given the nature of this industry, and SDG 17 on partnerships.

Businesswomen talking in a hotel lobby
Q: What do you think is the biggest holdback from achieving this?
 

A: The biggest obstacle is the lack of partnership. Unfortunately, with tourism being a very private-sector drive industry where the government often does what they want to do, unlike other industries, there’s a lack of integrated effort in combatting this issue. 

 

The problem is that there’s a gap in terms of implementation which results in a need for synergy between central government, state government, and the private sectors instead of working in silo. In order to make this integration happen, we need a policy paper to address the things that they need to consider. This, of course, won’t happen so easily.

 

In more comprehensive research, we’re looking at a more sustainable and resilient business model for the tourism sector.

 

 

Q: What inspired you to pursue this research? 
 

A: The inspiration comes from my very own involvement in this industry since the mid-1990s. Being active in the partnerships with tourism and hospitality sectors, I believe that the role of the university is to work with the industry not only in the areas of training and employability of students but in the areas of research, innovation, and knowledge transfer. This way we can play a pivotal role as partners to the industry in shaping its future of the industry.

 

To add to that, most of the work I do is contemporary and addresses real-world problems. Presently, I’m working on one of the national challenges which centres around the revival of the tourism and hospitality industry post-pandemic and the issues of manpower shortages. The work I’m doing impacts the industry and society directly as we’re not only looking at the immediate solutions but also modelling a longer-term strategy in order to ensure businesses survive another crisis.

The Role of Society and Technology in Advancing the Industry

Q: Undoubtedly, businesses and the government play a large role in recovering tourism. What can society do to play its role in solving these issues?
 

A: Sustainability isn’t just about going green but also about having the community participate in these activities. So as a tourist, am I green-conscious? Do I help the community to become better? Sustainability also goes to the employer. Do I employ a good amount of male and female employees? What’s the whole picture of sustainability? 

 

We’re now working on a digitalised Sustainable Tourism Index (STI) and making it accessible to the public via mobile phones so that when users use it, they will know how they can play a role and be more aware of what they can do to participate and help the community. Additionally, the outcome will also support policymakers and tourism agencies to better manage tourist destinations in terms of sustainability practices.

Tourist using application to book a hotel
Q: What are some of your future plans for your research?
 

A: The next project I’m looking at is to research the impact of Industrial Revolution (IR) 4.0, look into IR 5.0, and the impact they have on the hospitality and tourism industry, especially in the areas of robotisation, artificial intelligence, and machine learning.

 

Currently, we’ve incorporated robots in our restaurants as servers and hosts welcoming guests. I’ve included 2 robots in our practical restaurants so they can focus on serving. This helps students to focus on plating and all the other practical things important in a fine-dining restaurant.

There are twofold to why I’m doing this. One, I want to show students that this is the future and it’ll be even more sophisticated than what you see today when they start working. This will help students know that they wouldn’t need to do this job but, instead, take on a more supervisorial role allowing them time to organise the restaurant and look into the business aspect so that it runs more efficiently. The students are then able to take their studies to another level and focus on planning, managing, and/or supervising instead of paying too much attention to operations. 

 

Second, we also get to conduct research on socio-behaviourial context. We use robots a lot but there isn’t enough research on our behaviour of receiving them. By having these technologies available, we’re able to conduct our own survey, observation, and interviews to gather data and then derive a solid scientific conclusion on what the customer prefers or doesn’t prefer and the reasoning behind it. It’ll be very interesting to find out how these things work with my researchers.

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