Day 2 of the HTMi Global Student Forum took place on Thursday, 22nd April 2021 and saw the event start off with the Top 8 teams battle it out in the final round of the “Innovation Challenge” where each team was standing by live in their respective countries to defend the challenge and research and answer questions posed by the international audience. Congratulations to the eight finalists from HTMi Saudi Arabia, HTMi Dubai, HTMi Singapore, HTMi Switzerland, Polytechnics Mauritius and UCSI University Malaysia. The schools focused on the theme for the forum is “What source of innovation contributes to the salvation of the hospitality industry?”, which highlighted the importance of innovation and implementation of initiatives in the hospitality industry, while striving for finding alternative solutions in business development and the post Covid19 pandemic era.
This was followed by two international guest speakers, Ms. Kylie Thuyen, Human Resources Manager, The Grace Hotel, Sydney, Australia who shared her insights into “Career Opportunities and Growth in Hospitality” and Mr. John Lohr, Director of Strategic Partnerships and Innovation Hosco, Spain who discussed “2021 – Hosco’s Big Bets for the Recovery”.
The afternoon session saw HTMi Switzerland’s three finalist Bachelor of Science (Hons.) students present their final presentations to the audience, which also went live around the world, where we had the opportunity of listening to some excellent research. Congratulations to Paula Maria Toma, Lorant Tamas and Le Thu Thuy for making it to the top three. The winner of the Best Conference Presentation will be announced at HTMi Switzerland Graduation & Awards Ceremony taking place at the end of the semester.
The forum ended with the presentation of Certificates of Participation and closing speeches. HTMi Switzerland saw the second edition of the two-day HTMi Global Student Forum end on a very successful note. We would like to thank our global partners and their students for their support: HTMi Dubai, HTMi Singapore, HTMi Saudi Arabia, Kazakh-Swiss Institute of Tourism, Catering and Hotel Business, Kazakhstan, Polytechnics Mauritius, UCSI University Malaysia, and of course our own faculty and students at HTMi Switzerland, as well as our international guest speakers in achieving a highly productive event. We look forward to the third edition that will take place in November 2021.
Anthony Lack, President of HTMi International Events Association