November-December . 2021 | @ Halal

19 serving these visitors .

Aside from the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation ( OIC ) countries , she shared that Malaysia also had to compete with non-OIC countries that approached the Muslim-friendly market and promoted themselves aggressively as Muslim-friendly destinations like Singapore and Japan .

“ Even in Changi Airport , they have halal and non-halal areas . This is to show how serious they are in attracting this market .”

She also said it was essential to have a basic understanding of halal and haram concepts . For example , hotels need to put up signages to indicate the direction of qibla in the hotel room .

She stated that Islamic tourism could play a vital role in revitalising economic development and growth if it ’ s planned and managed correctly .

Change to niche product in destination management

Mohd , the Head of Retail Excellence and Consultancy at Institute of Business Excellence of Universiti Teknologi Mara ( UiTM ) Shah Alam , shared the uneven recovery in the tourism sector between developed countries and developing countries .

Mohd said : “ Europe already organised Euro 2020 , but here in Malaysia , we ’ re still in lockdown .”

With the current international travel restrictions , he said Malaysia must focus on growing domestic tourism , an encouraging segment .

“ It contributes to US $ 48.8 billion to the economy , with the average spending of US $ 204.1 per domestic tourist . This shows that the tourism industry could still carry on .”

Mohd then emphasised the need for an immediate plan to rectify the impact of the pandemic on the tourism industry .

“ We have to plan for new products and look into the digitalisation ,” he added .

Carbon neutral tourism that is Islamic and sustainable

Rushdi , co-founder of iPortal and the session moderator , pointed out the alignment between Islamic tourism and sustainable tourism in terms of ‘ maslahah ’.

According to him , sustainable tourism focuses on four key areas : sustainable society , environment , economy and culture .

Rushdi said people were interested in this segment because of the unique experiences it offers . Sustainable tourism allows travellers to get educated on the destination , its history , culture and resources .

“ Sustainable tourists spend more money and are less price-sensitive ,” he added .

He shared some takeaways with regards to sustainable tourism , which are : i . Connect with a destination at an emotional soul level ii . Respect the destination iii . Spend more money iv . Return more often v . Ambassadors of the destination

“ These are the insights that destinations need to start looking at .”

He then mentioned that all kinds of tourism have carbon footprints .

“ If Port Dickson is going to focus on this area , it has to see what it can do to reduce carbon footprints of those visiting .”

Talent sourcing and development

“ When we talk about talent sourcing , we are talking about addressing the needs of the visitors and also the host communities ,” said Sri , Group Director of DHS Hospitality Academy Malaysia .

Human Resources ( HR ) needs to look for talents and inform what they could offer . He stated that the hospitality business aims to provide clients with the best service to leave with good memories .

In doing so , talent sourcing helps organisations to recruit proactively and maintain a healthy pipeline of candidates .

He added : “ We ’ re talking about how we want to create or have quality candidates and also create candidate engagement .”

He said the biggest challenge for HR people in the industry was attracting local talents , and resorting to foreign employees was a short-term solution that would later create other quality service issues .

Discussing talent development in the hospitality business , he emphasised that quality talents could transform the hotel experience for the guests . Sri also said that in competing with others , organisations need to hire the best local talents .

Preparing for the revised landscape in Islamic tourism

Azmi , lecturer in the Master of Public Policy ( MPP ) programme at International Institute of Public Policy and Management ( INPUMA ) of University of Malaya argued that the definition of Islamic tourism is still unclear .

He said the Ministry of Tourism , Arts & Culture ( MOTAC ) had crafted Islamic tourism policies by taking them from multiple sources without having actual expertise and knowledge .

“ It does not lend credence to the multiculturalism practice in Malaysia ,” said the lecturer .

Azmi said if Islamic tourism was put outside the frame of multiculturalism , it would create a divide that provided no good to the national unity , solidarity , and national building .

He agreed Covid-19 had hit the Malaysian tourism industry badly , but it was the best opportunity to recalibrate Islamic tourism .

“ To give it a form and meaning - part of Malaysian tourism that can coexist in a multicultural setting .

“ The multicultural setting is important . The sharia-compliant and halal aspects are given and understood and should not be separated from the over-arching generic name of Malaysian tourism ,” said Azmi

He added policymakers must define Islamic tourism or Muslim-friendly tourism clearly and reposition it as a segment of Malaysian tourism as it would be easier to brand and market .

Hybrid manpower as the key to the re-emergence of tourism

Obispo , the President of I-GOT-EDUC Philippines , said there was a missing link on what the industry needed to do to recover rapidly after already practising and adapting to everything .

He explained that all efforts , response measures , and recovery plans would be worthless if the workforce were unprepared .

“ Without hybrid workforce , a sudden incident of another pandemic or emergency would again disrupt our operation . Hybrid workforce is one of the keys for companies to recover and sustain their operation .

“ To stay relevant , the industry leaders must secure the tourism industry with highly developed human resources . The hybrid professionals are highly trained specialists and generalists . Hybrid professionals are the key to the industry ’ s re-emergence from the Covid-19 pandemic ,” said the president .

Obispo said companies should craft a workforce strategy that develops employees ’ digital and cognitive capabilities , physical and emotional skills , adaptability and resilience skills to meet the challenges .

The changes in the need and concerns of travellers required companies to have the staffing with new skill sets .

He shared the tourism industry hybrid workforce must be equipped with multiple industry skills , technology literacy , enhanced soft skills , administrative duties , emergencies

and protocols ready and fit to work . Policy planning on tourism development and sustainability

The Associate Professor at the Faculty of Economics & Administration , University of Malaya , Kuppusamy , presented a paper that he worked on with his partner , Parthipan Periasamy .

He shared some current scenarios in the tourism industry , saying that many hotels had shut down their operations and laid off their employees .

With the current situation , some hotels took the opportunity to renovate . He also added that travel agencies had become almost irrelevant , and airlines were severely affected .

Explaining Port Dickson , Kuppusamy shared before the pandemic , the local authority had to spend a lot on cleaning after the rubbish and waste left by the tourists . However , it did not benefit from tourist arrivals . The local authority was unable to provide efficient amenities and infrastructure to cope with the pollution .

He mentioned it was unreasonable to expect the local authority to invest in tourism without returns .

He then shared federal , State and local authorities had come out to promote tourism in Port Dickson . Some plans included the introduction of a duty-free zone and Seremban-PD Rail Line . Kuppusamy said the commitment from the government was essential for the development and sustenance of Port Dickson as a critical tourism spot .