Sunway University played host for the first-time to the 3rd International Tourism and Retail Service Management Conference (TRMC 2021).The theme of the conference, "Developing Sustainable Tourism Retailing" was put together by the Organising Committee, who saw the need to critically discuss the changes in tourism retailing, and to create opportunities for constructive dialogue concerning suggestions and strategies on how the tourism retailing industry could move forward; particularly as nations are gradually recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic. The previous conferences were hosted by the Macao Institute for Tourism Studies in 2018 and Nankai University (China) in 2019.

One of the best learning points from this event was the need to move forward innovatively and creatively in the tourism and retail sectors that can meet the demands of post-pandemic tourists. While it is noticeable that technology has been increasingly embedded in hospitality services, the human element is still highly significant. This stresses the need for hospitality establishments to reskill and upskill their workforce to other areas of focus within the business.

Professor Marcus Stephenson, Dean of the School of Hospitality and Service Management, stated that “The pandemic has brought about challenges and potentialities that could not be ignored. National lockdowns and movement restrictions have transformed the way things are being done by different constituents including individuals, academic institutions, businesses and governments. The hospitality and tourism industries have often been regarded to be resilient with post-pandemic tourists anticipated to continue travelling significantly. Nonetheless, there is a genuine need to advocate for consumption and experiences that are sustainable to the environment and local communities. Such discussions were also highlighted during the paper sessions”.

This was a two-day all-virtual conference held on 12 and 13 October 2021, hosted by the School of Hospitality and Service Management at Sunway University, and partnered with Macao Institute for Tourism Studies (Macau, SAR-China), University of South Carolina (USA) and Nankai University (China).

The conference also saw participation from Austria, Bangladesh, China, Fiji, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Jordan, Macau, Malaysia, Norway, Oman, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, Sweden, Taiwan, Thailand, the Philippines, the United States and Vietnam.

Evelyn Loh Geok Yan 
School of Hospitality & Service Management
Email: [email protected]

This article was first published in Sunway in The News, October 28, 2021