Pre Tour Summary

By: Madey Shihab

We have come a long way, from choosing a destination to finalizing every element to near perfection. There was much to do before this tour could be put in place. But now, as we approach the departure date there is a feeling of elation and high spirits. This semester has been very testing to all of us, in terms of the work load. And our trip to Sri Lanka will be both educational as well as an enjoyable experience.

Leaving on the 12^th of November which falls upon a Monday, we will be flying with Air Asia to reach our destination. The flight departs from LCCT at 1100hrs and reaches Sri Lanka at 1200hrs, local time. We will be gathering at Taylor’s University Lakeside Campus at 0630hrs to take the Taylor’s bus directly to the airport. Meanwhile, a few of us have decided to use their own modes of transport as they live in the KL area.

Since our group is large, and to contest any issues that might arise at the airport groups of students have been put under the leadership of select students. The groups are based on the grouping presented in the flight booking. This is to ensure that if there is a problem these leaders may sort it out, or reduce any confusion or chaos.

Visa is a very important element of our trip. There is no option for a visa on arrival, and all visa applications needed to be carried out well in advance as to ensure everybody could travel. Hence, each person is advised to bring their own visa printed out. Besides this, Diana Knezevic, the in charge for visa will be printing out everyone’s visa as a safety measure. This is again to reduce any complications that might occur.

We have thought of in advance a few issues that we need to be aware of while in Sri Lanka. The culture would be without doubt different from that of Malaysia. Although Malaysia is a multicultural country, there are certain traditions and customs that we need to be prepared for. And we should be mindful to respect these differences. We have covered this in more detail during the Risk Management Plan which was presented earlier in class.

Besides the culture there is also the component of safety. Sri Lanka is not a dangerous country, but as such a great number of students are travelling we are to be mindful of each other. Thus, the brilliant minds of our Risk Management Team brought to us the concept of a buddy system. Where there is a leader for a selected number of students. And these leaders would ensure that they all stick together and look out for each other. As I mentioned before, Sri Lanka is not a dangerous country, but these are just precautions.

After everything that has passed, concluding the final class for today everyone was very energetic and hyped up for the trip. After a pre-tour briefing and assigning roles for students to perform while on the trip the class was concluded. And everybody went home, without doubt, looking forward to “Discover Sri Lanka”.

Risk Management Plan

Joon Neng & Mashi

By: Firhin Asykil Mashi, Lee Joon Neng, Reese Ng and Cheryl Yuan

In planning on this trip, we have come up with a risk management plan. This plan helps the group to anticipate risks, identify actions to prevent the occurrence and to reduce their impacts if they eventuate. The Risk Management Plan is created as part of the Risk Planning. It lists all foreseeable risks, classification and priority, preventive and contingent actions, together with a process for tracking them. This Risk Plan template will help us to perform these steps quickly and easily.

Cheryl Yuan

This plan is a necessity proposal for every trip. With this template too, it will help us to identify potential and possible risks during the trip. Furthermore, it helps to categorize and prioritize each risk. Besides that, this plan may determine the likelihood of the risk occurring and will also identify the impact on the tour if the risk does occur.

For the Sri Lanka Tour, we are the committee members whom are in charge to develop the plan. The leader for this committee is Firhin Asykil Mashi. Along him are the supporting members, Lee Joon Neng, Cheryl Yuan and Reese Ng. Our team is fortunate to get some assistance from our other classmates. 

Reese Ng

We have poured our hard work in developing and coming up with this plan. We sat together and brainstormed in coming up with possible risks and we have also provided a variety of solution based on different problems that might arise. Some of our team members have also come up with brilliant ideas, like the "buddy system" for our trip.

Even though our first presentation was a failure (we did not reach the objective), our second presentation was quite impressive as our classmates have accepted the plan that we developed. Dr. Paolo too has consented and approved our plan.

In conclusion, we are looking forward for the trip and we can say that we are well prepared to assist the class during the trip. Thank you, Sri Lanka here we come!!

News #1

Week 4

Venue: Tourism Room II, Taylor's University

REPORT  

The trip proposal was presented today to Paolo. Our tour manager Madey Shihab headed the presentation and representatives from respective departments presented theirs. Sarah presented the itinerary of the trip, Ishrath as our treasurer presented the financial report and costing of the trip and Joon Neng showed and explained on Risk Management Plan to the class on behalf of the Crisis Team. 

During the presentation, Paolo made some remarks and a lot of important comments. The proposal that was presented today was vague and there were a lot of ambiguities. The itinerary presented was not detailed enough and there were some free slots. Timing was not set up efficiently and activities were still undecided. As for the costing report, Ishrath had trouble coming up with a definite and specific amount as there were not much information of quotations from other teams for her to use.

Risk Management Plan was also lack in details. Paolo mentioned that the plan needs to be refined and detailed. A complete simplified action plan is needed for a good proposal. Joon Neng explained on how they would manage any situations in any case of emergency and further acknowledged that their team would have everything jotted and simplified in a better format.

There were also some discussions made during the presentation. Clash of ideas between some students on the itinerary and some have also suggested new ideas for the activities. Ishrath proposed to swap the details for day 4 and day 5 to not waste any time. Grace was quite reluctant as she was unsure whether they would have time for their dives and they had little information on Sri Lanka's dive centers. 

Food & beverage department duty was also highlighted during the presentation. It is very important for them to consider everyone's preference and to find suitable restaurants. These restaurants should be able to cater a group of students and their price quotation should be made clear. Paolo gave a good example on the efficiency of his previous class F&B for their trip to Cambodia. Food & beverage team was reminded to come up with places to eat (according to students' preferences) and the price for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Paolo mentioned that the class would have to have an activity that is related to the course Integrated Resorts Management as some budget is taken from the subject. To have a team building activity was proposed by Joon Neng to fill in the free time slot and Sarah suggested to visit an eco-tourism site. Paolo has also stressed on students' preferences; it is up for us students and we have to decide on it. So, will there be a new committee to be in charged with the team building activity and the educational visit program?

At the end of the class, Madey ended the presentation by stressing on the workload that the class will be facing. There are a lot of work to do and it is very important to finalize the proposal. Madey and Grace delegated the task and reminded all on what we have to do. The class has to have the final and detailed proposal for Paolo to forward and get it approved by Mr. Frederic.  

And so, let's do this together and get it right! Good communication is the key! ;)

Till our next news! 

Class Trip Secretary

Sept 29th, 2012