Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Sibu In The Blue Ocean - Part 20

After agri-business, Tan Kee Hian moved on to the third strategy for Sibu, namely Hub for Mass Tourism.

Tourism is really a very old topic here in Sibu. We have been talking about it for donkey's years (from my memory, something like twenty years) and yet nothing very fruitful has come up from the rhetoric.

As I am in the hospitality line, tourism is obviously my concern. When I learned that Kee Hian was going to touch on it, I was very much excited.

Sibu as a hub for mass tourism should be the dream of all Sibuians. Kee Hian based his vision on the following:

1. There is increasing global interest in sustainable and eco-friendly activities (example, leisure).
2. Sibu has much to offer in back-to-nature attractions, local culture and unique history.
3. The conventional approach has been to adopt a niche strategy:
-Small scale, customised operations
-Sophisticated, but dispersed target customers
-Incremental economic benefits at the State level
4. Uncontested market space is:
-Create a business model for mass tourism

I copied the above picture from Meng Lei's blog. The photo was taken with Liong's camera at a teh tarik session at Premier Hotel in the afternoon on the third day of The 9th Methodist Convention. One waitress was kind enough to offer to snap for us. But little did she know that the camera was so sophisticated that she let it run non-stop, making everybody burst into laughters. It was a wonderful scene well captured. Front row, left to right: Philip Hii, Tan Kee Hian & Steve Ling. Back row, left to right: Liong, Miao Ting, me & Meng Lei.

2 comments:

Ensurai said...

Hotel restaurants must serve the best and freshest of food - the chefs must be ethical in food preparation and that is why hotel food is highly priced...but guests deserve value for money.

Hotel employees must also show respect and kindness to all guests equally. You never know a kind gesture to an elderly local lady may bring great future business!

A young man was given a scholarship because he treated an elderly couple with more than the usual kindness. When they went back to their home country they sent for him!!

I think hotels in Sibu should really practice Second Mile Christian attitude. That is the best Biblical teaching for the tourism industry.

It means a lot to most people.

Tony Hii said...

Changyi, you have really touched on the fundamentals and basics of hospitality industry. Thank you for sharing.