Sentosa Development Corporation has signed an agreement with NTUC LearningHub on Thursday to facilitate training for its 15,000 employees to cope up with demands from customers.
As per a CNA report, Sentosa is upskilling its employees to tackle ‘environmentally conscious tourists who seek to reduce their carbon footprint’ and to cater to ‘evolving tourism trends’.
Sentosa’s agreement with NTUC LearningHub is active for the next three years and will offer courses focusing on sustainability, wellness tourism and improving customer service. Resorts World Sentosa (RWS), whose workforce makes up 70 percent of employees on the island, supported the agreement.
Samion Ong, an event manager on the resort island, who underwent a skill upgradation course, said he has benefitted from the education. said clients are increasingly requesting for more sustainable approaches.
“They taught us how the entire process in sustainability (works) in planning MICE events – to the point of even (how to) build the exhibition booth and the costs involved,” he told CNA.
Ong said tourists ask a lot of questions and having the right knowledge will help employees deal with it better.
Lee Cheh Hsien, Sentosa’s assistant chief executive of corporate and sustainability, said the island aims to keep up with customers’ needs. “As demographics change, we are always ready to serve them,” he said.
Sentosa has been able to shake off its Covid blues and is now witnessing a steady jump in tourist arrival. As per a Sentosa Development Corporation spokesperson, arrivals to the island have increased to 15 million in 2023. The number is a 20 percent jump from the previous year. The figure is approximately 75 percent of what it was before the pandemic.
Meanwhile, the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) has inked an agreement with NTUC LearningHub, with the aim of upskilling workers serving in industry in areas like sustainability and technology, CNA reported.
In this three-year partnership, STB chose Sentosa as a pilot for its plan to future-proof the workforce.
The move makes sense as Sentosa’s workforce make up about 20 percent of Singapore’s entire tourism employment.
Speaking at the signing, Minister of State for Trade and Industry Alvin Tan said, “These particular skills of sustainability and accessibility … are something that increasingly tourists are looking for when they choose a destination … (Having these skills) will offer something really special.”
