Caritas Institute of Higher Education's (CIHE) Rita Tong Liu School of Business and Hospitality Management welcomes the Government's "Hello Hong Kong" Campaign and its related public initiatives. The Institute is prepared to nourish new talents for industries that are welcoming the return of visitors.
Dr. Raymond SIU, Assistant Professor of the School, highlights how the COVID-19 pandemic negatively impacted the hospitality sectors such as the food and beverage, tourism, hotel, and retail. "Service professionals were forced to shift their work, and the youth were weary to enter the industry. There is a concern with the lack of professionals to accommodate the increase of inbound travellers with the relaxation of quarantine and immigration policies."
Frontline departments of the hotel and hospitality industry such as the front office, reservation, food and beverage and housekeeping desperately need more professional talent. To sustain their operational needs, hotels are driving their staff into over-time or hiring part-time staff. This practice is harming the well-being of their staff and their service quality. The industry must keep this in mind when attracting young professionals.
Dr. SIU proposes a solution, that the provision of free air tickets would be helpful in attracting overseas visitors and may revitalise the industry in distress. With the potential increase of flight passengers, it is expected that the number of visitors would return to 70% of the visitors from 2019, just before the pandemic grew, by end of this year. The number of hospitality professionals would consequently grow.
Dr. SIU also stated that it is a suitable time for the industry to raise its service quality and to welcome a new generation of professionals. Tertiary Institutions are responsible for nurturing fresh talents. CIHE's Rita Tong Liu School of Business and Hospitality Management offers two programmes to train students to become hospitality professionals : Bachelor of Business Administration (Honours) and Higher Diploma in Hospitality Management. With the refinement of its BBA programme, the Hotel Management Stream is expanding its scope to Hotel and Tourism Management, including analytics and its applications, which teaches students to understand the hospitality industry in a more comprehensive manner.
The experienced and well-qualified academic staff of the Rita Tong Liu School of Business and Hospitality Management is dedicated in providing professional courses to the youth who wish to enter the hospitality and tourism industries. Students would acquire practical skills in the state-of-the-art teaching facilities such as the training restaurant and bar, training kitchen, simulation guest rooms and a front desk counter. Students are also required to participate in a 500-hour internship with reputable hotels or related organisations. Their performance has been recognized by their employers.
Supplementary Information
Dr Raymond SIU, Assistant Professor
Rita Tong Liu School of Business and Hospitality Management,
Caritas Institute of Higher Education
Dr. Siu had worked in the hotel business for 30 years and holds extensive experience in various hotels, such as standard hotels, boutique hotels, luxury hotels, resorts, service apartments and co-living spaces. Furthermore, he had been exposed to different management models, namely independent operations, franchising, and management contracts. He was a general manager of a resort and service apartment, before joining the Rita Tong Liu School of Business and Hospitality Management, CIHE.
He is passionate in educating students on how theories can be applied to complement practical skills and to solve problems for better decision-making. From 2003 to 2018, he also delivered lectures at other universities on part-time, namely the University of Strathclyde, University of Surrey, University of Plymouth, and University of Napier.
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