Hotheads aims to tackle travel industry manpower crunch

A new initiative has been launched to tackle the issue of manpower development and drive creative thinking in the Asian travel and tourism industry.

Developed by former Travel Daily Media and PATA executive, Stu Lloyd, Hotheads Innovation will create a series of training workshops across Asia for the hospitality, tourism and airline industries.

“With all the booming forecasts, the industry in Asia has much to look forward to, but no one seems to be tackling the question holistically: Where are all the extra people going to come from to fly the planes, to wait the tables, make the beds, and guide the tourists around?” said Lloyd. “Millions of extra people will be required, yet tourism is not considered a sexy first choice vocation.”

In an effort to create a solution to this issue, Lloyd is developing a series of two-day “high-energy workshops” around the region. These will start in Bangkok on 19-20 November 2013, before moving on to Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, Jakarta, Manila, Hong Kong and Shanghai.

Endorsed by PATA and Skal, and with registration discounts for members, these sessions will focus on developing creative thinking and innovation, before practicing those techniques in crowd-sourced brainstorming sessions, facilitated by Lloyd. The solutions from each workshop will then be collated by Hotheads, with the resulting report being offered to the industry.

The sessions will target mid-level and senior industry personnel, including general managers, HR directors, directors of sales and marketing, and marketing communications personnel.

“Creativity is now the number one required leadership skill in business, according to several global surveys. New answers are needed daily to problem solve the different problems the ‘New Economy’ is throwing up, and deal with the turbulence,” said Lloyd.

“Think of it as a bit of social entrepreneurship, our own little bit of CSR,” he added.