Upskilling & Reskilling for Sustainable Tourism

 

Emerging from the Covid19 global pandemic that resulted in border closures, lockdown periods and limited travel, Iskandar Regional Development Authority (IRDA) saw how these challenging years had affected various industries and reached out to help.

 

IRDA CEO, Dato Dr Badrul Hisham Kassim
with Best Students and their Certificates

With the support of a special fund, PENJANA KWC or Kumpulan Wang Covid, IRDA provided a training project dubbed Iskandar Malaysia Sustainable Tourism Upskilling & Reskilling (IMSTATURE) that ran from February to June 2023 to support the tourism and hospitality industries.

 

Participants from the tourism and hospitality industries were invited to register to join the training sessions to upskill and reskill themselves in five categories that were provided Free-of-Charge. The five categories and sub-categories were:

 

1] Ecotourism and Culture & Heritage, Ecotourism and Community-based Tourism, Culture & Heritage Tourism;

 

2] Business Events/MICE or Meetings, Incentives, Conventions and Exhibitions, Event Management Certification, Exhibition Professional Management Certification, Conference Management Certification;

 

3] Halal Tourism & Muslim-friendly Tourism, Halal Tourism, Muslim-friendly Tourism;

 

4] Tourism Destination Resilience, Leading Tourism (Executive Tourism, Leadership for Hotels & Product Owners), Living Tourism, Edu-tourism, Medical Tourism, Volunteerism, Accessibility Tourism, Youth & Sports, Wedding Tourism, Digital Nomad Trends;

 

5] Tourism Digitalisation

 

Screengrab of video presentation on the
training categories in the Tourism industry
 

Early this year, one of their online posters that offered training for Social Media Marketing, caught my interest and attention.

 

As I reviewed the list of dates for the two-day training, I could not decide on when I should join because I was still busy with my Downtown Johor Baru project that was planned with Heritage Walks and Book Reading sessions from January to April 2023.

 

As my project wound down to a close in April, I registered and joined the training on the final dates of April 27 & 28, held at Digital Marketing Consultancy, Johor Baru.

 

My Johor Stories 3: Proudly Johor, Then and Now
books received by Reza Mohamed of IRDA

Over these two days, I had an eye-opening experience as I joined the class and saw how participants could gain from the digital marketing training experience.

 

Then recently, I received the invitation to the Closing Ceremony for the Iskandar Malaysia Sustainable Tourism Upskilling & Reskilling (IMSTATURE) project that will be graced by IRDA Chief Executive Officer, Dato’ Dr Badrul Hisham Kassim, along with a long list of related government agencies and tourism industry players

 

No, my name was not on this distinguished list but I was honoured to be part of this event, not because I was one of the registered participants for the training, but probably due to my established working relationship with IRDA.

 

Johor is among the top five states that
are popular destinations for domestic travellers

The most recent collaboration with IRDA was my participation in the Downtown Johor Baru project, a collaboration between IRDA and Think City, supported by Majlis Bandaraya Johor Baru (MBJB) which kicked off in 2022.

 

Among other events with IRDA, I had the privilege to be part of the Award Committee in the Iskandar Malaysia Beyond Boundaries (IMB2P) programme, first in 2018 and again in 2019.

 

Guest speaker, Faeez Fadhlillah

I am also grateful for the encouraging support of IRDA to My Johor Stories who keep a stock of my books to present them as premium corporate gifts to guests like ambassadors and industry leaders on their official visits to Johor.

 

That day when I arrived at the foyer to the event hall, there were people clustered around cocktail tables, eating and chatting while waiting for the start of the event.

 

Among them was Gladys Goh Chik Moi, a tourist guide (I was meeting her for the first time!) who recognised me from the blog posts that she follows in My Johor Stories.

 

Along came her colleague who introduced herself as Peggy Koo, and upon hearing my name she exclaimed, “So you are Peggy Loh!”

 

This was because she was often asked if she was Peggy Loh and expressed how delighted she was that Peggy Koo had finally met with Peggy Loh.

 

Definition of Tourism & Sustainable
Development, shared by the guest speaker

The event kicked off with opening remarks from the Master of Ceremony followed by the introduction of our eminent guest speaker, Faeez Fadhlillah, Chief Executive Officer of Tripfez and Salam Standard.

 

In an engaging session entitled, Key Tourism Trends, Action Plan to Create a Sustainable Policy, Faeez presented his analysis of the tourism industry in Johor using charts, graphs and statistics, and explained what it means to have a sustainable policy for the tourism industry that can be applied well into the next few generations.

 

At the close of this presentation, there was a Question & Answer session where the audience was invited to ask relevant questions.

 

Peggy Koo speaking at the Q&A session

While several people stood up and commended IRDA and the partnering agencies in providing the Upskilling & Reskilling training in the Tourism industry, one of the concerns highlighted was, now that the training was over, what was next to maintain the momentum and sustain the careers of tourist guides?

 

There was a general consensus that visitors from Singapore were both discerning and demanding, and how to deal with the challenges faced by tourist guides here.

 

One of the relevant issues highlighted by Peggy Koo was her experience of the long queues and waiting times that could range from three to seven or up to nine hours, at the Immigration checkpoints for entry into Johor.

 

While tourist guides were trained to welcome visitors with, “Selamat Datang” and “Salam Sejahtera,” she pointed out that which such massive delays, we have already offended our visitors at the entry point.

 

So instead, they were compelled to replace the warm welcome with words of apologies and comfort.

 

She added that the drivers also faced the challenge of spending long hours at the wheel, inching their way through to the checkpoint and then to continue with the long drive up-country, something which was unhealthy and dangerous.

 

IRDA CEO, Dato' Dr Badrul, addressing the
audience in his closing speech

In his closing speech, IRDA Chief Executive Officer, Dato’ Dr Badrul Hisham Kassim, expressed his appreciation to all partners in the Tourism and Hospitality industries, the training providers, government agencies and local authorities involved.

 

He also congratulated all participants, especially those who excelled as Best Students in their training categories and received their Certificates at the event.

 

He was also pleased to announce that Johor will be the host for several major events, both local and international, that will welcome more visitors to the Southern Region.

 

Dr Badrul presenting a souvenir to the
guest speaker, Faeez Fadhlillah

Dr Badrul then responded to the issue of the long wait at the border checkpoints and assured everyone that the Chief Minister himself has taken personal interest to alleviate this matter.

 

As one of the busiest border crossings in the world, long waits were inevitable but the long queues on long weekends linked to Public Holidays were often aggravated by the sheer volume of vehicles.

 

He was clearly sympathetic and hopeful for a smoother transfer between the borders when the Rapid Transit System (RTS) link – currently under construction – should be completed by 2026/2027.

 

He was pleased to announce that with the RTS, commuters will only need to go through one Immigration checkpoint on each side of the border and encouraged more patience while we waited for the completion of the RTS.

 

The event closed on this positive note with a time of networking over lunch.

 

For more info on IMSTATURE go to webpage: https://maceos.org.my/imstature-programme/