International Executive MBA: Leadership in Travel Industry Post-COVID

This report analyzes the impact of leadership competencies on the travel industry, specifically focusing on Apple Vacation Travel Agencies in Malaysia, to improve business sustainability post-COVID-19. It begins with an introduction to Apple Vacation and the challenges posed by the pandemic, emphasizing the importance of strong leadership during crises. The literature review explores leadership competency development globally and in Malaysia, highlighting the tourism sector's contribution to the GDP and the impact of the pandemic. The report examines leadership competency frameworks and Apple Vacation's strategic, interpersonal, and organizational alignment dimensions. It discusses targeted leadership development, experience and learning, and effective leadership development. The report concludes with the company's proactive measures, including the development of an Online Travel Agency (OTA) to adapt to the new normal, leverage innovation, and engage with customers. The study emphasizes the need for clear communication, strategic planning, and employee training to ensure business recovery and sustainability in a dramatically changed world, providing a framework for other travel agencies.

INTERNATIONAL
EXECUTIVE
MBA
The impact of leadership competencies on travel industries
reviews and Apple Travel Agencies to improve business
sustainability Post Covid 19, Malaysia
JULY 2021
GROUP NAME: THE A TEAM
NAME OF STUDENTS:
COACH:

TABLE OF CONTENTS
TITTLE PAGE
1. Introduction 1-2
2. Travel Industries Literature Review Around The Globe 2-3
3. Impact of Leadership Competency Development 4
3.1 Malaysia Travel Industries Background 4
3.2 Apple Vacation Travel Agencies Sdn Bhd Action / Counter 5-6
Measure taken by the company
4. Impact of Leadership Competency Development 7
4.1 Apple Vacation Competency Framework 7-8
4.2 Strategic Dimension 9
4.3 Interpersonal Dimension 9
4.4 Organization Alignment Dimension 10
5. Leadership Development 10
5.1 Targeted Leadership Development & Result Orientation 10
5.2 Experience & Learning 11
5.3 Effective Leadership Development & Scientific Talent Management 11-12
6. Conclusions 12
7. References 13-15

1.0 Introduction
Apple Vacation Sdn Bhd was founded on 11 July 1991 in Malaysia with the head office
in the heart of Kuala Lumpur has more than 52 agents in Malaysia and three (3) main
branches in Singapore, Japan and Taiwan as an inbound and outbound and local travel
agency. The company's success can be attributed to the burning passion of two founders:
Dato Sri Lee Ee Hoe (Lee San), Group Chairman, and Dato Sri Koh Yock Heng (Koh
San) Group Managing Director. This spirited pair drives the company with their keen
prospect and expertise in catering to the market needs and demands. Through their will
power, they have established a unique culture steeped in Japanese philosophy “Kaizen”,
meaning continuous improvement with self-discipline, adapting to constant change and
not holding on to the past. The company lives up to the motto "It's a journey, not a
destination" and prides itself on having a strong foundation and a proven track record of
weathering tough times. The company name changes from Apple Vacations &
Convention on 4 October 2019 to Apple Vacation Sdn Bhd approved by the Registrar of
Companies, Malaysia.
The current COVID-19, has caused incredible tragedy and a big impact in travel
industries. The number of people suffering from illness, death of loved ones,
unemployment, economic impact, health and poverty is overwhelming. Together, we
share our heartfelt sympathy for those who bear these burdens and our sincere
appreciation for those who support them on the front lines. On a broader level, COVID-
19 has dramatically changed the way we live. Our social interactions, our professional
dynamics and our digital relationships have all changed.
The Travel & Tourism sector has certainly not been immune to that transition. Indeed, the
Travel & Tourism sector has already been tremendously impacted. Seemingly overnight,
hundreds of countries suspended flights or halted international travel. Even domestically,
national and sub-national jurisdictions instituted shelter-in place orders. Many companies
were forced to close temporarily, which unfortunately often led to permanent closures.
Those that remained open had only limited operations This all transpired such that at the
peak of the crisis, a shocking one million Travel & Tourism jobs were lost daily.
A strong leadership organization in challenging times like the current COVID-19 crisis as
employees need someone to look up to and lead them through the difficult times. Despite
this, there is a tendency for the leaders in the travel industries to focus purely on external
communication to attract customers to sustain their business, neglecting the internal
communication which is just as important. As employees in the travel organizations are
usually the front liners, clear and transparent communication is needed to deaden their
worries. Leaders in the travel industries should use this quiet period to assess their
business, plan for new guest scenarios when operations resume, and intensive training to
their employees to take the edge off customers' post COVID-19 concerns.
This assignment aims to study a leadership competency framework that can be used to
innovate the travel industries in Malaysia post COVID-19 in order to make the industries
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sustainable in a dramatically changed world. The case study travel organization used in
this assignment is (name of our own company), hereafter referred to Apple Vacation
Travel Agency as outline sketch. It is one of the few established and innovative travels
and tours companies in Malaysia.
Yet, we have also witnessed inspiring commitment and strength among our fellow Travel
& Tourism leaders. Companies donate food, support repatriation and open their doors to
the homeless, victims of domestic abuse, frontline workers and people who are sick or
quarantined due to COVID-19.
Travel & Tourism workers are undergoing training to provide medical care, sewing
masks for the community, and taking pain-staking precautions to keep travellers safe.
2.0 Travel Industries Literature Review Around the Globe
This chapter focuses on the review of the literature on the leader competency
development over the last 10 years in the travel industries researching on the various
leadership competency frameworks developed or implemented by organizations and the
leadership styles of some of the most successful leaders in the travel industries. The
COVID-19 has caused an unprecedented disruption in the travel industries.
Malaysia Tourism is the third largest contributor to Malaysia's GDP. In 2018, the tourism
sector contributed around 5.9% to the total GDP. In recent years, the tourism industry in
Southeast Asia has seen significant growth and the country is keen to capitalise on this
trend. The Visit Truly Asia Malaysia 2020 campaign has been launched in the hope of
achieving the ambitious targets of 30 million visitors and 100 billion Malaysian ringgit in
tourism revenue by 2020.
However, the outbreak of COVID-19 has led to the cancellation of this campaign and
"Tourist arrivals to Malaysia fell by 83.4% in 2020 with Malaysia’s tourist receipts also
plunging by
85.3% from RM86.14 billion in 2019 to RM12.69 billion last year. Most tourists, 4.23
million in 2020, arrived before the border closure on 18 March.
Malaysia has experienced negative annual growth in visitor numbers since 2017, which
has been accompanied by stagnant tourism revenues between 2016 and 2018.
This was mainly due to a decline in the number of visitors from Singapore, which
remained Malaysia's top tourist market.
Nevertheless, Malaysia's capital Kuala Lumpur was among the top ten most popular
destinations for overnight visitors worldwide in 2018, and spending by international
visitors to Kuala Lumpur also reached its highest level in nine years this year.
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In 2019, Malaysia launched the Malaysian Tourism Promotion Matching Grant Fund,
aimed at marketing Malaysia as a leading tourism destination in the global market.
As part of efforts to attract international visitors, it has been proposed to improve flight
connections to Malaysia. In 2018, the most flights per week were from Malaysia to
Singapore. To diversify the visitor profile, more flights could be established to high-yield
markets such as China, India and Germany.
However, to ensure the robustness of the tourism sector, domestic tourism should not be
neglected. In 2019, Malaysia launched the Malaysian Tourism Promotion Matching
Grant Fund, aiming to market Malaysia as a leading tourism destination in the world
market.
This is all the truer as Malaysian domestic tourism has seen annual growth in both
spending and visitor numbers since 2011.
In 2020, however, the tourism industry faced an unprecedented challenge in modern
times with the outbreak of COVID-19. In an effort to contain the spread of the virus,
Malaysia imposed first a partial and then a full travel bans on visitors from China, its
second largest tourism market, in early 2020. Since then, travel and tourism worldwide
have plummeted as countries around the world have imposed travel restrictions to curb
the spread of the virus. I
It remains to be seen whether the tourism sector will be able to rebound by the end of the
year.
As a result, the weaknesses of many businesses in these industries were exposed. Travel
industries leaders are also facing pressure to respond to the disruptions in these industries.
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3.0 Impact of Leadership Competency Development
In Malaysia, the government restricted travellers from entering the country and
announced a lockdown as a preventive measure in early 2020 to curb the spread of
COVID-19. The KLIA International Airport suspended international flight operations
except for approved relief flights and further extended restrictions until 28 April 2021.
All the pandemic-imposed travel restrictions, together with the movement clampdown as
a result of Malaysia’s recent political coup, has hit the travel industry and its related
supply chain with a tremendous negative impact, the travel industries ground to a halt.
The on-going health issues, curbed movements and political unrest took a huge toll on the
national economy, safety, welfare, and security of its citizens. It is at this critical time that
travel industry players need to unleash their leadership competency skills and adapt to
situational changes.
3.1 Malaysia Travel Industries Background
Over the past decades, the travel industries have experienced continued expansion and
diversification, to become one of the leading and fastest-growing economic sectors in
Malaysia. The industries generated vast direct and indirect job opportunities for its people
and Malaysia secured a favourable flow of foreign direct investment since the country
opened its doors to the world. In 2019, Malaysia achieved double-digit growth in the
number of tourist arrivals and benefited from a high volume of visitors from China,
Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong and Macao, as it eased its visa restrictions and enhanced
air connectivity with these countries. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak, relevant
ministries and authorities in Malaysia were mainly focused on marketing strategies,
promotion and branding of the nation as a nature-oriented tourism destination; rather than
working on enhancing new regulations, stimulus packages or protocols to stimulus
packages or protocols to stimulate tourism. It follows that in such a situation especially,
the element of transformational leadership is critically important, where the government
has to work together with players in the industries to identify crucial factors of
safeguarding the travel industries, executing recovery plans, facilitating changes in
regulatory framework and preparing readiness for post-pandemic business recovery. Both
parties are also dealing with many uncertainties around demand forecasting and the
decisions on reopening airports, hotels, tourist destinations, F&B outlets, etc. The major
impact on the safety of tourists and employees are obviously the top priorities, and the
leadership competency in communication and coordination between public and private
sectors in the travel industries while being an added complexity is a very important
component in the success of overcoming the spikes and spread in Malaysia’s COVID-19
battle.
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3.2 Apple Vacation Travel Agencies Sdn Bhd Action / Counter Measure taken by the
company
Apple holidays have taken proactive measures to adapt to the new normal as a result of
COVID-19. The company realized that it must grab this opportunity to enhance business
skills and understand market needs to effectively transform this challenge into an
opportunity. This is a chance for the company to not only sustain its footprint in the
Malaysia travel industries but to mutate and accelerate its growth during this difficult
time and the post COVID-19 period.
Apple vacation is a proponent of leveraging innovation and digital technology to get
ahead. The company is developing a one-stop travel and tour service platform known as
Online travel Agency (OTA) in Malaysia to cater the massive volume of potential online
customers and “revenge travellers”. OTA is aimed at communicating a value intent to
existing customers, serving new customers as well as managing stakeholders
effectively.in this digital age, consumers are heavily influenced by recommendations
from social media platforms, online information, digital apps etc., all of which can
directly affect consumer’s travel decisions.
There are several important elements to consider in online marketing, such as targeting
the right moment, audience, and the appropriate digital platform. Consumers look at
trusted structures for effective ways of communicating. Apple Vacation expects business
platforms that are effective gateways in allowing them to communicate with businesses
and players in the travel industries and get value in return. The OTA developed by Apple
Vacation gives them the assurance and opportunity to interact in a more personal way
despite the physical distance. Indirectly, both parties are creating deeper relationships and
transparent communication. The advantages of this OTA are that it is tailored to have a
complete chain of communication bundled in a single website. All registered customers
will be able to get instant response from OTA’s online customer service team, avail
themselves of the latest special promotions, reward points system, access and download
their bookings or tickets, and whenever possible, notifications about the health status of
travel destinations x and other safety measures without referring to multiple contact
points. `
In all circumstances, Apple Vacation remains competitive, adopting an agile resilience
and willingness to always listen to customer needs. This is their client charter’s value.
They know that the experiences shared by customers will always serve as powerful
testimonials that can create widespread customer preferences and eventually help
overtake other competitors in the travel industries in Malaysia. The company’s emphasis
on empowering human capital and developing talents is their strategic way to serve
stakeholders and customers. They apply what they believe on themselves and on their
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people. The management of Apple provides lifelong learning opportunities and training
for employees to enhance their knowledge and soft skills through online platforms,
encourage idea exchange platforms for organizational leaders to express their own
thinking freely before making decisions and offer support incentives by giving quarterly
rewards to “Best Performers” in sales, marketing and administration to uplift employee’s
work performance and job satisfaction.
The fight against COVID-19 is not yet over and players in the travel industries need to
cope with existing circumstances. This does not mean that companies are solely at the
mercy of circumstances beyond their control. Companies need to study trends, changes in
consumer preferences and characteristics of consumer decision-making; and then execute
a holistic post COVID-19 business. Hence, the parameters of high safety, imposing
stringent hygiene practices, compulsory wearing of masks, providing sanitization
equipment, keeping social distancing are among the continuous new normal now and in
the future.
The military coup in Malaysia is a further blow to the economy and safety of the country.
As a result of the uncertainties and risks of the military coup, communication lines were
down, and Malaysia faced interrupted internet connections and telecom networks over
large sections of the country. The military-led authority has imposed curfews and people
are limited and restricted in their movements. The climate of fear and uncertainty clouds
the whole nation, with people resorting to panic buying and food hoarding whilst military
tanks and armoured vehicles roam the streets. Piling this on top of a pandemic- stricken
situation, the travel industries certainly face an uphill battle and tremendous challenges to
arrive at any form of normalcy. Any political unrest will have an adverse impact on
tourist arrivals. The negative perceptions of unsecured personal safety and limited
telecom connection have already severely damaged the country’s image. It would take
time for trust to return and tourists to feel safe again.
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4.0 Propose of Competency Framework
The current COVID-19 pandemic is a global tragedy that has had a profound impact on
mankind. It also created situations where we saw extraordinary examples of human
performance and growth, as individuals and leaders worked together to help those around
them as best, they could.
As senior managers naturally pay attention to the direct impact of this crisis and its
impact on employees and the organization, they will often find themselves in a moment
of accelerating the growth and development of leaders at all levels of the organization. At
historical moments of serious uncertainty, Apple Vacation will adopt the following
strategies to promote leadership performance and development in a crisis.
Leadership requires senior leadership skills in an era of constant change, high
uncertainty, and stakeholder cooperation. Segel emphasized that as COVID-19 continues
to accelerate change at an unprecedented level, today’s leaders still have a problem; how
to move forward in such a unique and uncertain environment? He said, "When the risks
are high, there is no "script" for leadership, and of course there is no script for what to do
in the face of the pandemic of the 21st century." Active and effective leadership helps us
to tide over the crisis, rebuild the business and move forward courageously at the moment
of ambiguity, but at the same time facing so many challenges, many leaders may be
trying to set a clear direction, no matter how effective the company is, if the leader and
the organization cannot reshape and adapt. Both will stagnate and fail. To ensure that this
situation is eliminated, especially in the worst-hit tourism industry, the challenge is to be
able to equip today’s industry leaders with the necessary Skills to guide business
development.
Therefore, the proposed leadership framework is seen as an intervention to bridge the
established gap between the current and ideal leadership state, and is specifically used to
innovate Malaysia's tourism industry after COVID-19. The industry has a set of
guidelines to continuously motivate, motivate and mobilize employees and individual
customers to achieve overall goals, high customer satisfaction, and high income.
4.1 Apple Vacation Competency Framework
According to the Apple Vacations case study, it is essential that the company has a clear
direction as the travel industry reopens and holiday-hungry customers travel in groups.
Apple Vacations has been able to achieve this goal by focusing on more than 100
destinations, equipping the company with the right leadership skills and the right people
to meet the demands of the market. To achieve this goal and respond effectively, a
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function-based leadership competency framework, to fill the current gaps in the company
and can be adopted by other travel companies in Malaysia to revamp the industry post
COVID-19. This leadership framework was developed based on research on some well-
known leadership competency frameworks, after considering the various findings from
the literature review and impact sections of this study. These leadership competency
frameworks include the OECD competency framework and the NHS leadership
framework. The values proposed in this framework will provide the necessary skills and
training that will serve as the blueprint for their organisation's COVID-19 innovation.
Sou
rce: The A Team Group’s own construct adapted from Benedictine University’s Values-Driven Leadership
Framework, OECD’s Competency Framework, and NHS’s Leadership Framework
The purpose of the leadership competency framework is to create a strong empire, in line
with the corporate logo, where leadership and identity meet and create a framework that
defines the identity and core values of the company. The framework is divided into three
competency dimensions. These are also referred to as job families and are used to
categorise the structural level of the organisation. The proposed competency dimensions
are "Strategic", the dimension that targets the top management level of the organisation,
e.g. the president, CEO and department heads. The second dimension, "Interpersonal",
categorises the rest of the staff. The third dimension, 'Organisational Alignment', refers to
the need for the whole organisation, including stakeholders, to work as one. Each
dimension is then assigned leadership competencies and functional competencies that
highlight the skills and expertise needed by the respective staff to have the greatest
impact. In total, 12 core competencies were proposed to renew the organisation according
to COVID-19.
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4.2 Strategic Dimension
For the dimension "strategy", 4 competences have been proposed that are important for
the management of Apple Vacation. The first competency is "business agility", defined as
the ability of a company to be adaptable, flexible and creative through the development
of leadership skills in the group. Apple Vacation needs to be able to respond quickly to
opportunities or threats arising from a change in norms among travellers as defined by
COVID-19. Similarly, we could see a significant increase in Asian tourists speaking
multiple languages, such as Malay, Mandarin and Japanese, rather than the normally
concentrated English-speaking customers. With the vision of becoming a leading travel
agency in Malaysia, leaders must also be prepared to lead change and digest the risks
involved. It is often important that these changes are also made with a sense of urgency.
While these actions may seem unduly risky, they create pressure and urgency that spurs
the success of the changes initiated. The third competency tailored to leaders is
"innovation and change". Its leaders need to be aware that the ongoing socio-economic
crisis triggered by COVID-19 will not simply go away, and therefore need to adapt their
services accordingly.
4.3 Interpersonal Dimension
The second dimension, called "interpersonal", describes the key competencies that all
employees should possess. Four key competencies are suggested as essential skills:
"customer orientation", "environmental and cultural sensitivity", "networking" and
"resourcefulness". In sectors where customer service plays an important role, employees
need to be able to build relationships with customers and add value to them. Staff need to
be customer-focused and do all they can to foster customer empathy and enhance the
booking and travel experience. Secondly, staff need to develop a sense of 'environment
and culture'. Experts predict that post COVID-19, the rural hospitality industry could see
an upsurge as travellers prefer the less crowded, carefree seclusion to the hustle and
bustle of urban gateways. Therefore, staff must be prepared to support and accommodate
nature-based destinations. The third and fourth skills are interlinked, namely networking
and resourcefulness. In order to continue to innovate and develop after COVID-19, staff
must have a high level of networking skills and be information savvy. In today's digitised
world, networking has shifted from golf arenas and conferences to a simple mobile
phone. The integration of apps such as Instagram and others allows employees to stay
connected with other industry partners and clients around the world. As customers
become more aware of their surroundings and the world around them, being more
conscious of information can help build better relationships with them.
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4.4 Organization Alignment Dimension
The last dimension "organizational consistency" focuses on the organization's ability to
achieve expected goals and results. In order for Apple Vacation to transform and work
hard after COVID-19, achieving organizational coordination is essential. Leaders,
employees, and all other stakeholders are on the same page. In order to ensure the
efficient realization of this goal, we must strengthen "collective leadership" and
"communication" capabilities. Mini-leaders within the organization will also have a
multiplier effect on network leadership, leading to stronger growth. On the other hand,
excellent "communication" has always been a value sought after by the business
community.
Every employee of Apple Vacation should be trained to achieve good harmony. Effective
communication level because this is not only a reflection of them, but also a reflection of
the company. Master the art of modulation, solve the problem of when to stop or when to
specify in detail, handling complaints or criticisms will not only have a positive impact
on the business, but also help create a good working atmosphere between management
and employees
5.0 Leadership Development
Leadership development is undoubtedly a strategic issue. Apple Vacation believes that
they should start to think about three ways: Facing the future development, how does an
enterprise define leadership?”, “according to the requirements of leadership, where is the
gap? " and "in view of the gap, how can we effectively develop leadership?".
5.1 Targeted Leadership Development and Result Orientation
With the changes in the external economic environment, the quality requirements of
leaders have also taken place. In the past, most local corporate leaders came from
business and technology backgrounds. Today, more and more companies have adopted
this strategy. Foresight, efficient execution, leading innovation, and motivating others are
important qualities of a leader. Ability and quality assessments can help leaders have a
more accurate understanding of themselves. There may be a huge gap between leaders’
self-evaluation and others’ evaluations. This gap forces leaders to self-evaluate
themselves.
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Province, and generate enough motivation to participate in leadership improvement
projects. Clear leadership standards and scientific ability assessment. The results can help
formulate the leader’s "Individual Development Plan" (IDP), which more clearly
describes the leader’s development blueprints and key directions for improvement.
5.2 Experience & Learning
Apple Vacation believes that "experience + learning" is the golden combination for
developing leadership. Apple Vacation uses various on-the-job practices and challenging
experiences to enable leaders to gain experience, such as global dispatch, special projects,
follow-up training, rotation, etc. It is also possible to establish a "personal connection
channel" to enable leaders to receive direct experience and support, use methods such as
appointing senior executives as mentors, hiring external coaches, and establishing
internal networks to enable leaders. There are more opportunities to learn from others and
use their experience to promote success. In addition, Apple Vacation implements learning
methods, such as lectures, online learning platforms, and action-based learning to
supplement the leader’s theoretical system of knowledge. These three methods should
take "experience" training as the mainstay is the most effective way to improve
leadership.
Apple Vacation needs to train more excellent staff, and the "high-potential talent training
plan" came into being. Apple Vacation is elected every year approximately 30
outstanding senior managers participated in the “Global Talent Dispatch” program and
dispatched them to Apple Vacation’s global branches. Worked in the institute for one
year to develop its professional and management capabilities and expand its international
vision. At the same time, appoints senior staff as mentors, provides regular feedback and
communication, and provides useful guidance for junior staff. In addition, it is worth
mentioning that Apple Vacation has been introduced to “action-based learning” to
improve the effectiveness of “learning”. In the learning process, Apple Vacations
business needs are oriented, and the learning content is designed in a targeted manner.
"Discussion" is to teach in "exercises' ', so as to improve the ability of leaders to solve
specific business problems.
5.3 Effective Leadership Development and Scientific Talent Management
Leadership development is not an isolated system. It requires a series of talent
management policies as supporting support, including selection and evaluation, talent
training, performance incentives and succession management. Apple Vacation builds a
"leadership talent pool" and selects leaders with outstanding performance and
development potential for training support and improving the return on input and output.
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Performance incentive policies help companies to scientifically measure the performance
of leaders.
The ultimate goal of leadership development is to have a high-quality "leadership
reservoir" that can continuously provide leadership talents for Apple Vocation’s business
expansion. In order to achieve this goal, in addition to scientific system planning
leadership development the work itself, the corporate culture of “creating leaders” is a
more essential factor, that is the entire enterprise must be strong. Strong willingness to
train leaders, the top leaders will take this as an important task to personally lead and
continue to pay attention.
6.0 Conclusions
Travel industry organisations in Malaysia are in dire need of disruptive technological
change to innovate the sector, given the dual crisis facing the country, the COVID-19
crisis and the sudden fall of the democratically elected government due to political
problems. A values-based leadership competency framework is needed to innovate the
industries. The leadership framework is a pragmatic and ideal model to acquire in the
travel industry, especially in domestic tourism, as explained to revitalise and grow its
business after the COVID-19 crisis. As the world struggles to restore travel industries in
the face of a sharp decline in tourist arrivals. The framework is well thought out, covers
all necessary dimensions of competencies, is easy to implement, can be evaluated through
feedback from different stakeholders and is accompanied by detailed explanations for all
departments of the organisation. If implemented correctly, it can benefit all employees,
which will improve their level of engagement and produce positive business results. We
recommend that as its beginning of transformation during this difficult period by using
this framework. The management can use this skill set to define job requirements within
the organisation, see potential matches and pathways for internal mobility and promotion,
provide corporate learning opportunities and design structured career development
programmes for its employees.
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