Report of the proceedings of the Two day International Webinar
“Impact and Strategies for Tourism, Service Management and Academic Sector” organized by FATER Academy of India (FAI) Goa Chapter on 24th and 25th May 2020
The Inaugural session on the first day of the International Webinar began with a welcome address by Prof. Pankaj Srivastava, the Patron of the International Webinar and General Secretary, FATER Academy of India. He warmly welcomed the Chief Guest Prof. Nina Poyda Nosyk, National University, Ukraine, Guests of Honor Dr. Pornpipat Juta, Associate Dean, Ubon Ratchatani University, Thailand and Dr. Sairoong Dinkoksung, Ubon Ratchatani University, Thailand, FAI Executive Council Members, Resource Persons, Distinguished Guests, participants and the organising committee members FAI Goa Chapter. Assoc. Prof. Roy Alvaro Gomes, the organizing secretary FAI Goa chapter, introduced all the members of the organizing team.
Vice President, FAI, Dr. Yannakorn Toprayoon, School of Business Management, Rajpark Institute, Thailand explained his views on the theme and also highlighted various related aspects.
Dr. C.C. Tan, Head of the Department, School of Business Management, Mae Fah Luang University, Thailand explained the theme of the International Webinar. He also briefed the participants about the objectives and functions of FAI.
Dr. Liliana Guran, Western University Arad, Romania, addressed the importance and theme of the webinar.
Chief Guest, Prof. Nina Poyda Nosyk appreciated the idea of organizing an international webinar. She expressed that due to Covid-19 the whole world is suffering socially, economically and academically. She believed that as academicians we need to find out the way to come out of this pandemic.
Prof. Pankaj Srivastava, proposed the vote of thanks.
The first session began at 4:30 pm by Dr. Sairoong Ubon Ratchatani Business School, Thailand, on the theme “Covid-19 and its impact on the Tourism and Hospitality industry”. She discussed in detail the impact of the virus on international tourism. According to her research, the hotel occupancy rate dropped to 65%. Hoteliers also reduced regular rates by 10 to 20%. The session was chaired by Dr. Yannakorn Toprayoon, School of Business Management, Rajpark Institute, Thailand.
The second session began at 5.30 pm by Prof. Nina Poyda Nosyk, National University, Ukraine on the topic “Global impact of Covid-19”. In her research she gave comparative data of total population, infected due to coronavirus, death, recovery in various countries of the world. She also highlighted GDP reduction in different countries due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The session was chaired by Dr. Raghu Raman, FAI Executive council member.
This was followed by a panel discussion featuring Dr. Sreevasan, Faculty of Business Management, General M.P. Singh, Prof. Raj Reddy, Dr. C.C Tan. All the participants and also organizing committee members actively participated in the question-answer session.
Dr. Sucheta Naik, read the report of the day’s proceedings and thanked everyone for their participation.
Prof. Pankaj Srivastava brought down the curtain on the proceedings of the first day and made announcements about the next day’s activities.
25th May 2020
The first session began at 4:00 pm by Dr. Supattra Sroyptech, Vice Dean for Research, Faculty of Business Administration, Khon Kaen University, Thailand. Her topic was “Rival Strategies for Hotel Industry: How to regain guest’s confidence”. She spoke on the expectations of a hotel guests in the post-COVID-19 era thus suggesting implementing a ‘new normal’ in the hotel industry. In her presentation, she put forth initiatives and the guidelines followed by some of the International Hotel companies. She emphasized that small hotels also have to bring in transformation depending upon the investment capacity so that it helps them to attract the guest to the hotel. She gave a detailed explanation of the revival measures for hotel industries and expressed the need to forecast the needs of the future customers, consumer behavior, and the policies, strategies and services adopted by the competitors. The session was chaired by Prof. Pankaj Srivastava General Secretary, FATER Academy of India.
The second session began at 4:45 pm by Dr. Sakda Sriphattrasophon, Associate Professor and Senior Researcher from ASEAN Competitiveness Centre, Singapore on the topic,“ Covid-19: Impact on Small Businesses and Strategies for Revival”. He presented a glimpse of the rapid spread of Covid-19 over the world and its economic impact on the economy. His talk mainly focused on Small and Medium-sized Enterprises situation in Thailand in pre and post-COVID-19 era. He said the SME’s in Thailand during the pre-COVID-19 period played an important role as it contributed 42% to the GDP and gave 78% employment. He said with the outbreak of Covid-19, SME’s were hit badly therefore briefed of the stimulus package by the Thailand Government to ease the impact on SME’s. Dr. Sakda mentioned that the recovery period differs for different businesses amidst such unprecedented times. Some businesses like cargo, medical & health, communication, online education, etc have a tendency to recover fast businesses like hotels, restaurants, travel agency, etc recover moderately whereas automobile, real estate, air transport, etc will recover slowly. He suggested strategies of revival of SME’s like to adopt and adapt the New Normal norms, exploring new marketing channels such as e-commerce, to take advantage from government policies, etc. The session was chaired by Dr. Yannakorn Toprayoon, School of Business Management, Rajpark Institute, Thailand.
The third session began at 5:30 pm by Dr. Beatriz Lucia Salvador Bizzoto, Department of Social and Applied Science, University Centre, UNIFACEVEST, Brazil. She spoke on “The impact of student community and strategies to march ahead”. She presented a case study on the status of the education system in Brazil post-COVID-19. Dr. Beatriz highlighted the impact of Covid-19 on education and the actions taken by the government. She remarked that the first strategy adopted in the education sector in Brazil was the suspension of face to face class instruction and intensified online classes. She highlighted in-depth, the problems faced due to online classes and its impact on students and the teaching community. She also stressed on the UNIFACEVEST system adopted by the University in Brazil which helped virtual learning. Dr. Beatriz suggested that people need to be more flexible and adapt to the digital mode of education due to the availability of ample resources on the internet. Teachers are knowledge mediating agents and the students should explore to seek more knowledge in various fields.
The last session began at 6:15 pm by Dr. C. C. Tan, School of Business Management, Mae Fah Luang University, Thailand. He spoke on “Academics and educational reforms”. He elaborated on the various educational reforms worldwide. He also highlighted Thailand’s educational system. He touched factors such as stimulus, personal factors, professional efficacy, students’ psychological engagement, and career performance belief.
Dr. Yannakorn Toprayoon, School of Business Management, Rajpark Institute, Thailand appreciated the research work of resource person. Dr. Raghu Raman, Prof. B. S. Bisht, General M P Singh participated in question-answer session.
During the feedback, session participants appreciated the resource persons and the various topics handled by the resource persons and the efforts of the organizers. Prof. B.S. Bisht, FAI president commented positively and requested to organize more webinars. Dr. Raghu Raman appreciated the time management and for choosing a relevant theme.
The report of the day’s proceedings of the International Webinar was presented by Assoc. Prof. Mini Gangadharan and Dr. Sucheta Naik. Assoc. Prof. Roy Gomes, organizing secretary FAI Goa chapter appreciated the co-operation of Prof. Pankaj Srivastava FAI secretary for organizing an International webinar in short time span. Dr. Guru Prasad presented the vote of thanks.