The First Hospitality Leadership Programme: Leading in Challenging Times, organised by the University of Macau (UM) Asia-Pacific Academy of Economics and Management (APAEM), opened today (24 November). The target audience of the programme are senior executives in the hospitality industry.

‘Macao is showing large corrections in terms of economics and some employees may not perform immediate reactions and adjustment to the market changes,’ says Jacky So, dean of the Faculty of Business Administration and director of the APAEM. ‘The industry is now streamlining the labour structure. We hope to help the industry tide over these difficulties and challenges by nurturing local talent.’

Carol Kam, assistant vice president of organisation development and training at the Corporate Office of Galaxy Entertainment Group, says that the training course can help equip senior executives in the hospitality industry with necessary skills during the period of economic adjustment, to make the most of existing opportunities, and to adjust themselves to a more diversified economy. She adds that attitude is key to retaining customers in the hospitality industry, and the course helps participants to understand the changes in customer preferences in order to make adjustments accordingly.

The course attracted 35 senior executives from the gaming and hospitality industry and the apparel industry. The training course covers four main topics, namely changing customer preferences in the hospitality industry, the changing landscape of integrated resorts, strategies and innovation in hospitality, and adjusting to changes and economic reality.

Every year, the APAEM organises a variety of executive development programmes and invites experts and scholars from the academia and the industry to give lectures on various topics, with the aim of nurturing more internationally-competitive and socially-responsible future leaders for Macao and the Asia-Pacific region.