Road map launched to guide tourism sector transformation

The NTUC hospitality and consumer business cluster and five trade associations and chambers (TACs) have jointly launched the Tourism Sector Capability Development Roadmap to deepen cross-sector partnerships.

The TACs are supported by the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) and NTUC Training and Transformation.

The initiative was catalysed by the Tourism Alliance for Action (AfA) on Enabling Safe and Innovative Visitor Experiences convened by the Emerging Stronger Taskforce.

NTUC said yesterday that business leaders from over 20 organisations, union leaders and key TAC and STB representatives convened over a series of workshops to identify challenges, skills and enablers to prepare the tourism industry for the post-pandemic world.

The Tourism Sector Capability Development Roadmap outlines key areas that the TACs and unions will work on to transform the tourism sector and workforce.

These include upskilling workers for hybrid events and "new experiential offerings through digital content curation and presentation for visitors".

In addition, the TACs and unions will explore leveraging technology and automation to provide a "seamless end-to-end visitor experience".

Initiatives include industry collaborations for a common information-sharing platform, programmes to help businesses use contactless systems, and adoption of commercial insurance for last-minute cancellations, NTUC said.

NTUC also said the TACs and unions will look to form working-level communities to share best practices for safe, standardised and positive travel experiences for visitors, and to build on existing frameworks for safe travel.

Ms Kwee Wei-Lin, president of the Singapore Hotel Association and co-chair of the Emerging Stronger Taskforce's AfA on Enabling Safe and Innovative Visitor Experiences, said: "The associations' joint ownership of this road map reflects the cross-sector collaborations needed to address the challenges that have arisen from the pandemic."

THE BUSINESS TIMES