SMU Alumni Association launches SMU Travel and Hospitality Alumni Group
The official SMU Travel and Hospitality Alumni Group by Singapore Management University was launched on May 5 at The Fullerton Waterboat House, under the glittering backdrop of Singapore’s city skyline.
Established by the SMU Alumni Association, the group’s primary vision is to “build a wide but well-connected community of SMU alumni in the Travel and Hospitality industries in Singapore and Asia Pacific” through a series of networking events, panel discussions and workshops.
The group’s president, Ho Shyn Yee graced the audience with a few words, remarking that while the evening’s event may have only taken a couple of months to prepare, the establishment of the organisation itself had been a long time coming.
Shyn’s career has evolved from her early days spent in revenue management to her current role as Head of E-Commerce (China) at Expedia, further reflecting on how far the hospitality industry has come as a whole.
If anything, the event was a microcosm of not only the diversity of careers that exist within travel and hospitality, but also how the nature of these jobs is evolving, both online and offline.
One young alumnus at the event, Astha Kalbag, acts as a prime example of this new breed of ‘travel career professional’. Having just graduated from SMU with a degree in business management (with a double major in marketing and psychology), she is now a marketing executive or ‘Growth Hacker’ at SkyScanner.
Her primary role is to embrace the power of data science, experimentation and analytics to identify the most effective strategies to reach key markets. She even runs her own blog too, keeping up to date with the latest trends in marketing.
Other key professionals from tech giants like Amadeus, Expedia, Skyscanner, and TripAdvisor to more traditional hospitality groups such as Accor and Fairmont Hotels and Resorts were also in attendance.