Festival and Hallmark: An Experiential Learning Trip to Georgetown
In the recent April-July semester, a group of students enrolled in the Festival and Hallmark Events subject under the BSc (Hons) Conventions and Events Management (BCEM) programme had the opportunity to participate in a three-day field trip to Georgetown, Penang. This subject is led by Senior Lecturer and Programme Leader for BCEM, Dr Teh Pek Yen. This subject offers interesting perspectives for students particularly in the strategic and operational elements of festival and hallmark events. Given this subject scope, a learning trip to one of Malaysia’s most notable heritage tourism destinations, Georgetown further alleviates the students’ observation skills and knowledge with regards to the planning and organisation of festival. The attendees of the field trip also received an insightful sharing session from the Festival Director, Mr Jack Wong from GeorgeTown Festival (GTF), where he provided first-hand information and experiences on planning GTF as a hallmark event.
The students also get to meet other important tourism stakeholders including Ms Lim Gaik Siang, President of Penang Heritage Trust who shared in-depth cultural and structural background of Georgetown in becoming one of the region’s renowned heritage tourism destination. Apart from that, students also visited other notable locations such as Chew Kongsi, Chew Jetty, Little India, Kapitan Keling Mosque, St George’s Church and many more. At these locations, students were also informed on the preservation of these landmarks in support of the state’s heritage tourism, as well as how to immerse the unique destination image into the GeorgeTown Festival. Following from this field trip, students are also required to prepare a report of their observations.
Dr Teh, the subject leader of Festival and Hallmark Events also mentioned “Planning a festival is not solely about ‘fun’ elements. In fact, with careful planning and organisation, embedding the destination’s identity and uniqueness into a festival could elevate tourists’ experience and also ensure sustainability of the cultural elements.”
