Robots In Tourism Sector A Possibility

JOHOR BAHRU (Johor, Malaysia), Sept 29 (Bernama) -- It may sound strange but the use of robots in the tourism sector is not something impossible, especially for hotel housekeeping purposes. Malaysia Tourism Promotion Board (Tourism) Johor director Edzuar Ayob Azari said it would be among the changes that would come in the next 10 years. In fact, he said, some developed countries like the United States and Japan had already begun trials and experiments in the matter. "It is interesting to learn that in the future the hotel industry would not need skilled labour as there are already people conducting experiments to use robots for housekeeping and so on. "It will reduce dependence on labour, especially among foreigners," he said when launching the National Symposium on Tourism and Hospitality 2016 here, on Wednesday. Edzuar said, however, that Malaysia was not inclined to implement the change in the near future as some of the industry players still preferred human labour. This was because human labour provided a different experience to the tourists. In addition, we still need people at the management level, whereby they do the planning and become the 'think tank' group. "They also need to know how to manage tourism growth and maintain competitiveness in line with the current changes, such as the rise in Singapore's currency," he said. On the symposium organised by the Malaysia Centre of Tourism and Hospitality Education (MyCenTHE) and Politeknik Ibrahim Sultan (PIS), Edzuar said it was a platform for the 250 participants to exchange views and proposals to stimulate the tourism sector. This is in line with the government's desire to attract a total of 36 million tourist arrivals generating US$40.83 billion (RM168 billion) in revenue in 2020, he added. --BERNAMA