22 May 2002KUALA LUMPUR - Hotels in the ASEAN region is looking at
the standardisation of skills including human resources
development, standard of service, and related areas.
Although work to formulate a set of common standards has
been on for a year, the call was made again at the ASEAN
Hotel and Restaurant Association (AHRA) Conference held
here last month.
Malaysia's Culture, Arts and Tourism Minister Dato'
Paduka Abdul Kadir Fadzir, in his opening address, pointed
out that ASEAN has beautiful hotels and resorts, but there
is a lot to improve on in the software and in upgrading the
standards.
One of the ways is to get the best standards from
individual hotels in ASEAN and incorporate them into a set
of common standards, he said. IHRA president, Argus Salim,
said the association is working on the standardisation and
a follow-up meeting will be held next month.
Meanwhile, Singapore has offered to share its skill
standards. Teo Poh Kheam, assistant chief executive of the
Singapore Hotel Association (SHA), said SHA and the
Singapore Hotel and Tourism Education Centre (SHATEC) has
already formulated a set of skill standards.
"The resources are there. We can share our experience in
writing standards and can cut short the time to formulate a
set of common standards for ASEAN hotels."