PolyU Students Win 1st Prize in Seoul Youth MICE Challenge 2012

A team of four students from the School of Hotel and Tourism Management (SHTM) at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) won the First Prize at the Seoul MICE Youth Challenge of the Korea MICE Expo 2012 in Seoul, Korea, last month.

The Korea MICE Expo is recognised as the country’s largest MICE exposition, and was this year attended by more than 300 buyers and 200 organisations representing the MICE industry.

SHTM students Vivian Hung, Vivian Lee, Kion Chan and Kiki Go teamed up to represent SHTM at the Seoul MICE Youth Challenge to mock bid for a major international convention scheduled to be held in 2017. Together, they presented a proposal demonstrating the competitive advantage Hong Kong had over other destinations, detailing the strategic action plans and comprehensive logistic arrangements.

The SHTM students competed with representatives from Siam University, University of Nevada, Las Vegas (Singapore Campus), Beijing International Studies University and Dongduk Women’s University.

“It was a great honour,” said Vivian Hung, “and we were all very proud to represent the SHTM and Hong Kong in this international competition ... it was not only a great opportunity for us to learn more about the MICE industry and get to know the industry professionals, but also an invaluable chance for us to broaden our horizons by learning from students from our peer universities.”

Indeed, the global student competition provided them with a unique platform to unleash their creativity and business sense, and also an opportunity to broaden their global perspective and professional networks.

The students owed their success to the experience they gained from organising the combined 11th Asia Pacific Forum for Graduate Students Research in Tourism (APF) and International Convention & Expo Summit 2012 (ICES) which was held at Hotel ICON, Hong Kong in May.

Working under the leadership of SHTM faculty members, students from Hotel Management, Tourism Management and Convention and Event Management programmes came together and formed themselves into a series of teams to handle everything from programme, publicity and sponsorship to the actual running of the event.

The two-in-one conference was a resounding success and the 25-member student organising committee drew high praise from delegates from around the world.

“The efforts of our students are worthy of praise in their own right,” said Professor Kaye Chon, SHTM Dean and Chair Professor, “we are very proud of them and what they have achieved.”

With 60 academic staff drawing from 18 countries, PolyU’s School of Hotel and Tourism Management offers programmes at levels ranging from Higher Diploma to Ph.D. Widely regarded as one of the very best in the world, it was awarded the 2003 International Society of Travel and Tourism Educators Institutional Achievement Award in recognition of its significant contribution to tourism education, and is currently a member of the UNWTO Knowledge Network.

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