PATA Malaysia Taylor's Student Chapter (PATA MTSC) under the School of Hospitality, Tourism and Events (SHTE) organized a tour to Penang and Ipoh. This was the first physical tour organized by the Student Chapter after the COVID-19 pandemic. This educational trip was aimed to provide an experiential learning for the students to practice tour planning and guiding which was only possible through virtual learning over the last two years. The physical tour covered various heritage, historical, religious and modern art tourism destinations in Penang and Ipoh.
The trip was fully coordinated by PATA MTSC’s members with the guidance of Dr. Thanam Subramaniam, Advisor of PATA MTSC and SHTE Lecturers Dr. Jeetesh Kumar, Dr. Chia Kei and Mr. Nantha Gopal. The PATA MTSC actively promoted the tour package to all students in the University since August 2022. Besides gaining exposure to tour organisation, the project indirectly helped the students to practice managerial skills through initiating, planning and executing the tour. As a result, they managed to gather students from various schools and programmes including Tourism, Education, Business, Media, and Engineering.
In addition, they practiced the creation of costing and budgeting, tour itinerary, direct marketing, room, and coach arrangements with the guidance by Mr. Nantha Gopal, who is a well-experienced licensed tour guide in Malaysia. Besides visiting various destinations, the PATA MTSC members demonstrated good leadership, teamwork and creative skills throughout the journey. All participants enjoyed the tour planning and excellent hospitality by the PATA MTSC’s members. Besides the tour activities, the participants were also treated to a buffet dinner with games and a prize-giving ceremony.
Well done and kudos to the School of Hospitality, Tourism and Events and PATA MTSC members for successfully organizing the physical trip!
