Vol 11 Issue 2, September 2011 - School of Hotel & Tourism ...

24Student ActivitiesBriefings, site inspections and discussions with touristsgave the students a deeper understanding of the keytourism-related issues facing Guangdong’s only worldcultural heritage site. They also had the opportunity totest a set of assessment indicators for cultural tourismpotential they formulated and field-tested prior to thevisit.Seoul Trip AidsAPacCHRIE 2011PreparationsAll 30 undergraduatemembers of the 9thAPacCHRIE Conference Organising Committeevisited Seoul from 31 March to 4 April to attend theInternational Convention and Expo Summit (ICES)2011. As this was the first time for the organising teamto participate in an academic conference, the experiencewas both stimulating and educational.Future Hoteliers JoinSwiss Youth SummitTwo students from the BSc(Hons)in Hotel Management andTourism Management programmesrepresented the SHTM as delegatesto the Young Hoteliers Summit (YHS) in Switzerlandthis year. Mr Paris Sze and Ms Sharon Man, who are alsoPresident and Financial Officer of PolyU’s Eta Sigma DeltaChapter, joined the Summit on 21-22 March at the world’soldest hotel school, École hôtelière de Lausanne.Amongst the tightly packed two days of guest presentations,workshops and panels, one of the highlights was theCreativity Challenge set by main YHS partner the RezidorHotel Group. Delegates were given six hours to brainstormand discuss ideas for social media applications in the hotelindustry and make final presentations to a panel of judges.Committee members had the opportunity to observethe entire ICES operation process from a range ofperspectives, including those of conference organisers,participants and sponsors. Even more importantly, theywere then able to apply the invaluable experience andknowledge obtained by observing, participating in,reviewing and evaluating that process to ensure that theAPacCHRIE Conference was the resounding success itultimately proved to be.Mr Sze and Ms Man had the opportunity to meet manynew friends, exchange thoughts about the industry withdelegates from all over the world, and explore the landscapeand culture of Switzerland after the event.As the old Chinese saying goes, “it is better to travel tenthousand miles than to read ten thousand books”.HORIZONS