Singapore Temasek Polytechnic PATA Student Chapter’s second Fireside Chat Series with, Mr Aloysius Arlando Past President of SAECOS
Group photo above of some members who attended the second fireside chat session on 9th November 2021.
Singapore, 9th November, 2021 - Our final instalment of the fireside chat series took place on the 9th of November 2021, with guest speaker Mr Aloysius Arlando Past President of SAECOS (The Singapore Association of Convention and Exhibition Organisers and Suppliers).
Mr Aloysius Arlando is the immediate Past President of SACEOS (Singapore Association of Convention and Exhibition Organisers and Suppliers). In the current Covid-19 situation, Mr Arlando has helped part of a public-private sector effort to co-manage the re-purposing of Expo into a Community Care Facility as part of Singapore’s total healthcare effort to battle the pandemic. With two decades of remarkable experiences in the tourism industry, specifically the MICE sector, it makes Mr Arlando an ideal candidate for the Fireside Chat.
The conversation mainly focused on Managing events in these desperate times and going digital during this pandemic. Mr Arlando agreed that the pandemic has greatly hindered the tourism industry. Mr Arlando addressed both the challenges and the benefits the pandemic has had on the MICE industry in Singapore.
The session opened with Mr Arlando addressing the major changes in managing events pre-pandemic and currently. Mr Arlando shared that in his opinion, the notion of “engaging via the digital space” has encountered the most significant change, adding that it is much harder to engineer authentic conversations in a virtual setting. However a positive that was brought up by Mr Arlando was the ability to better manage one’s time, because of the ability to record events. This function has allowed content can be consumed at any time and is one of the adaptations Mr Arlando thinks would definitely stick with the industry.
With global restrictions easing, the Tourism industry is slowly starting to pick back up. With his position at SAECOS, Mr Arlando is at the forefront working alongside the Singapore Government to aid in welcoming MICE travellers back into Singapore. Mr Arlando shared that trialling and testing events are key in understanding the kind of protocols that are needed to help facilitates events which can be conducted safely without sacrificing the convenience of international participants.
A final key topic Mr Arlando addressed was his recent attendance at the joint leadership summit. SAECOS undertook this initiative with three other global associations. This summit served as a perfect platform for these associations to look at some of the challenges and common initiatives that are needed to help restart the global travel industry in a strong manner. The summit also touched on two key topics, protocols to facilitate greater inter-regional travel and participation in events and what it takes to help the different economies reopen their respective economies to the MICE events.
This final session in our Fireside Chat series has helped to give us tourism students more hope for the future of events. The invaluable insights shared by Mr Arlando will definitely be useful in all sectors of the Tourism industry and, we cannot thank Mr Aloysius Arlando enough for his industry insights, words of wisdom and treasured advice.
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About PATA Singapore Temasek Polytechnic Student Chapter
Temasek Polytechnic PATA Student Chapter (TP PATA SC) was founded in 2016 and it is the first Student Chapter in Singapore. We are affiliated with PATA, which is an established non-profit travel trade association for the Asia-Pacific region that is based in Bangkok. Our vision is to enhance sustainability, value, and quality of travel in the tourism industry.
For more information, please contact:
Nur Camelia Binte Mohamad Firdaus, Singapore TP PATA Student Chapter President - nurcameliafirdaus.psc@gmail.com
Ang Ming Li Kelly, Singapore TP PATA Student Chapter Vice-President & Marketing Director - kellyang.psc@gmail.com